Law

Each State in Europe has its own national laws which affect religion and these are increasingly the subject of political and academic debate. This book provides a detailed comparative introduction to these laws with particular reference to the States of the European Union. A comparison of national laws reveals profound similarities from which emerge principles of law on religion common to the States of Europe, and the book articulates these. It examines the constitutional postures of States towards religion, religious freedom, and discrimination, and the legal position, autonomy, and ministers of religious organizations. It also examines the protection of doctrine and worship, the property and finances of religion, religion, education and public institutions, and religion marriage and children, as well as the fundamentals of the emergent European Union law on religion. The existence of these principles challenges the standard view in modern scholarship that there is little commonality in the legal postures of European States towards religion. It reveals that the dominant juridical model is that of cooperation between State and religion. The book also analyses national laws in the context of international laws on religion, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights. It proposes that national laws often go further than these in their treatment and protection of religion, and that the principles of religion law common to the States of Europe may themselves represent a blueprint for the development of international norms in this field.

EC State aid law represents an increasingly important part of EC competition law. The case law at national and European levels is growing rapidly, both in quantity and importance. Significant and increasingly frequent legislative and regulatory measures have been adopted at the European level in this field. There are various reasons for this developing EU focus on public intervention in the economy, however the fundamental and primary rationale is the completion of the internal market, and the pressure which that brings for liberalization and privatization. This volume analyses the concept of aid and examines fundamental questions concerning the scope of State aid law. It also offers a comparison with World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions on subsidies and looks at EEA and applicant states' State aid regimes. It then focuses upon selected areas of State aid law and policy. The final part of the book is devoted to an assessment of the system of remedies and enforcement both at the European Union and national level. The contributors to this volume come from a wide variety of backgrounds: they include academics, practitioners, the judiciary, and Government representatives at both national and EU level.

To what extent should public services (for example public utilities such as telecommunications, energy, public transport, and postal services) be subject to ordinary competition law? This question has assumed great importance in the context of the activities of the European Union. On the one hand, it is argued (particularly in France) that competition law is a threat to the values of public services that underlie their distinctive objectives. On the other, the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ argument is that protecting public services from competition gives them an unfairly protected position and can mask their inefficiencies. This book examines the philosophical, political, economic, and social principles involved. It contrasts the mainly economic and utilitarian justifications for the use of competition law, with rights- and citizenship-based arguments for the special treatment of public services, and examines the varied conceptions of the differing traditions in the UK, France, and Italy. The book then considers the developing European law in this area. It examines decisions of the European Court of Justice, considers the development of the concept of ‘services of general interest’ by the Commission, and reviews the liberalization process in telecommunications, energy, and postal services. It also provides a detailed case-study of public service broadcasting. The book concludes by drawing general principles from the debates about the extent to which public services merit distinctive treatment and the extent to which competition law must be amended or limited to respect their distinctive roles.

The Lisbon Treaty reformed the foundations of the European Union and marked the culmination of a process of Treaty reform that began after the Treaty of Nice and spanned almost a decade. This book addresses the main innovations made by the new Treaty, examining its legal and political consequences in a reformed EU. The book is organized thematically around the principal issues that occupied those engaged in the reforms over the last decade. The chapters include analysis of the reform process itself and the political forces that shaped the relevant provisions of the Lisbon Treaty. The book contains detailed analysis of the relevant legal changes made by the Lisbon Treaty on each topic covered. This legal analysis is informed by broader literature from related disciplines, such as political science and international relations, since it is only by doing so that it is possible fully to understand the legal implications of the new provisions dealing with issues such as the inter-institutional division of power within the EU, the distribution of competence, the hierarchy of legal acts, and the Charter of Rights. The book addresses the political and legal implications of the Treaty provisions, and the discussion is set against the background of the pre-existing legal and political regime, aiding a full understanding of the effect of the new rules contained in the Lisbon Treaty.

In a period when the nature and scope of the European internal market is hotly contested, this book offers a topical analysis of the most pressing issues relating to market integration and public services in the EU. As the debate continues over the balance between state control and market freedom, questions are also raised about the relationship between EU regulation and national policy choices and the ‘joint responsibility’ of the Union and the Member States. Outlining the most important current issues relating to market integration and public services in the EU, this book also addresses the underlying, systemic questions of the relation between public services and markets, and services and the consumer. Chapters also examine the application of state aids and procurement law to public services. The final two chapters focus on two public service sectors where the mix of Treaty rules, case law, and legislation has operated in rather different ways: public service media and health services.

Separatism is a highly topical and controversial legal and political issue. This book reviews the European inter-governmental approach in international law and politics through analysis of issues related to the moral recognition and ethical acceptance of national minorities. Examining issues of sub-state nationalisms, group recognition, identity, and political participation, it reveals assumptions in international law and politics about state sovereignty, collective rights, loyalty, and political inclusion. Employing both theoretical analysis and practical examples, the book provides a new framework for the accommodation of national minorities in Europe that aims to address the problems which have emerged from both international law and European relations since 1989. Part I examines the emerging national minority rights scheme since 1989, and explores concepts of the nature and scope of national minority rights. The book suggests that these rights have perhaps been mis-categorised and under-explored. Part II examines the discourse in the light of contemporary political theory on nationalism and multiculturalism, and the politics of identity, difference, and recognition, as well as discursive approaches to democracy. Based upon these analyses, the book develops an alternative framework for national minority accommodation based upon multiple loyalties, critical citizenship, and discursive justice. This alternative model overcomes the dichotomies of individualism-collectivism and universalism-particularism, contending that minority rights should be seen as collective political autonomy rights rather than as individual cultural human rights. Using this model, Part III examines the assumptions underlying the politics of democratisation, taking as examples the work of the Council of Europe and the politics of European Union integration. The book questions the ability of the national minority rights discourse to inform international law in its efforts to protect national minorities in an ethical manner. Instead, it contends that the complex processes of constitutionalism in the realm of European integration might provide a better way to accommodate national minorities.

The book is a critical legal analysis of the current scope of participation rights in EU law, embedded in the political and institutional contexts of European integration. Participation has featured prominently in recent institutional and political developments that have been shaping the EU’s constitutional framework - most intensely in the follow up of the Commission’s White Paper on Governance. Yet, little attention has been paid to participation rights as a means of ensuring the procedural protection of persons affected by EU regulation in its diverse forms. Both the EU legislator and the EU Courts have largely ignored this dimension of the rule of law. This book shows why the current judicial and legislative conceptions are inadequate to ensure the legal protection of rights and interests affected by EU regulation. It defends that current conceptions reflect an excessively formalistic approach to participation rights - premised on the right to be heard in individual procedures - as well as a restrictive view regarding the relationships between the citizens and the administration. The book combines a conceptual analysis with an empirical scrutiny of three EU policy fields – food, state aid and financial services – and assesses the scope of participation rights in EU law against their rationales and underlying legal values. It makes a case for the extension of participation rights to new situations and new types of procedures, in particular those that would generally fall within the category of rulemaking. It thereby brings distinct normative insights into a crucial theme of EU administrative law.

The supranational law of the European Union represents a uniquely powerful, far-reaching, and controversial instance of the growth of international legal governance, one that has forever altered the political and legal landscape of its Member States. The EU has attracted significant attention from political scientists, economists, and lawyers who have analyzed its polity and constructed theoretical models of the integration process. Yet it has been almost entirely neglected by analytic philosophers, and the philosophical tools that have been developed to analyze and evaluate the Union are still in their infancy. This book brings together legal philosophers, political philosophers, and EU legal academics in the service of developing the philosophical analysis of EU law. This book brings varied disciplinary expertise and theoretical perspectives to bear on central issues facing the Union and its law. Combining both abstract thought in legal and political philosophy and more tangible theoretical work on specific legal issues, the chapters in this volume hope to make a contribution to developing work on the philosophical foundations of EU law.

The European Commission has claimed that ‘Solidarity is part of how European society works...’ . But how are we to understand solidarity and what are its implications to government policy? This book addresses the question of what solidarity might mean today and its relevance to the purposes of the European Union and the way it functions. Is solidarity just a slogan or can it have meaningful legal and policy content? Contributions from leading scholars in law, politics, and sociology are brought together in this book to discuss an idea that is coming under fresh scrutiny at a time when the EU's direction following the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty is hotly debated. The book engages with both the content and limitations of solidarity as a concept in political and legal debate, and its application to specific fields such as migration, education, and pension policies. The book provides a provocative analysis of the power and potential of solidarity, applying a sceptical and rigorous assessment of the conditions necessary for it to make a difference to the European political and legal space at a time when traditional manifestations of national solidarity (e.g., in health care) are perceived to be under threat from EU market liberalization policies. A number of chapters consider whether an EU concept of solidarity is possible and how that might affect the balance between market and social priorities for the Union's future.

The present book examines the developing legal regimes and regulation of public services in the UK and other European countries. Public services are examined though a case-study of the complex area of public employment services. These are job-placement and vocational training services which aim to maximize employment and minimize unemployment within EU member States' Active Labour Market policies. Employment services are seen as being at the centre of a complex web of rules in both hard and soft forms of law deriving from the EU, national public law and from private, and at times contractual, agreements. The analysis also suggests that they also lie at the crossroads of a series of trends in regulation, and priorities have been inspired by an array of conflicting policy rationales. These policy rationales include the establishment of an open and competitive European internal market, the establishment of an efficient welfare state, the scaling down of state administrative machinery, the fulfillment of core public service responsibilities, and the creation of public private entities for the discharge of essential social services. The investigation also proved that public employment services provide a highly informative and novel case study of the interaction and conflict between the economic and social aims of the EU and between regulation at national and supranational levels, and the changing forms which this regulation has taken.