Ton van den Brink – författare

This book considers national parliaments’ and the European Parliament’s role in European Union (EU) economic governance. It examines the recent strengthening of parliamentary involvement, limitations to improvements, and where and how democratic deficits still exist. It also provides the basis for some reflections concerning possible future evolutions and improvements to EU economic governance.

The EU’s economic governance framework has been significantly strengthened as a response to the 2008 economic and financial crisis, and the establishment of a new Banking Union in 2013. It is thus key to determine whether these additional transfers of powers to the EU level have been accompanied by an equivalent empowerment of the national and European legislatures, allowing them to ensure adequate democratic legitimation. The chapters comprehensively re-examine the democratic (throughput) legitimacy of, and within, the EU’s economic governance by focusing on national parliaments, on the European Parliament, and on mechanisms for interparliamentary cooperation.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

This book considers national parliaments’ and the European Parliament’s role in European Union (EU) economic governance. It examines the recent strengthening of parliamentary involvement, limitations to improvements, and where and how democratic deficits still exist. It also provides the basis for some reflections concerning possible future evolutions and improvements to EU economic governance.

The EU’s economic governance framework has been significantly strengthened as a response to the 2008 economic and financial crisis, and the establishment of a new Banking Union in 2013. It is thus key to determine whether these additional transfers of powers to the EU level have been accompanied by an equivalent empowerment of the national and European legislatures, allowing them to ensure adequate democratic legitimation. The chapters comprehensively re-examine the democratic (throughput) legitimacy of, and within, the EU’s economic governance by focusing on national parliaments, on the European Parliament, and on mechanisms for interparliamentary cooperation.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

Featuring sectoral and cross-sectoral contributions from a diverse array of distinguished academics, the book examines how the tension between EU unity and national autonomy has evolved over time. In particular it considers the response to significant new developments in the EU constitutional and law-making framework. The chapters explore the legislative strategies that have been adopted across various fields of EU law and policy to shape unity and diversity, and the practical, conceptual, and constitutional issues that these engender. Case studies from different EU fields and member states are critically analysed alongside key concepts including harmonization, derogations, proportionality, and effectiveness.

Both incisive and authoritative, this book will prove indispensable to academics, researchers and students with an interest in constitutional and administrative law, law and politics, and European law, politics and policy. Legal practitioners and policymakers wanting a better understanding of EU legislation and its impact on national legal orders will similarly benefit from the analysis and recommendations this important book makes.