Virginia Passalacqua – författare

The European Court of Justice plays a key role in the interpretation and enforcement of EU law. Yet, we still know little about the conditions under which cases arrive at the Court via preliminary reference and why they are so unevenly distributed across the EU Member States. Previous studies have shown how the legal elites played a central role in feeding the Court with cases to increase their power and influence. Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights tells a different story. Focusing on the migration domain, this book shows that EU litigation can also be used to defend powerless groups. To explore the conditions under which EU legal mobilization for migrants emerges, the author compares three countries where EU migration law was mobilized before the European Court of Justice (Italy, the UK, and the Netherlands) and one where it was not (Greece). Combining empirical and doctrinal methods, this volume draws on interviews with key stakeholders and an original database of 505 migration preliminary references. Rather than focusing only on courts, Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights sheds light on the role of lawyers, academics, and civil society in activating EU justice to oppose restrictive national migration policies. Crucially, the book ultimately reveals that EU legal mobilization struggles to emerge in some contexts due to a lack of resources and limited awareness of EU legal opportunities, which stand as significant obstacles to justice and migrant rights enforcement.

The European Court of Justice plays a key role in the interpretation and enforcement of EU law. Yet, we still know little about the conditions under which cases arrive at the Court via preliminary reference and why they are so unevenly distributed across the EU Member States. Previous studies have shown how the legal elites played a central role in feeding the Court with cases to increase their power and influence. Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights tells a different story. Focusing on the migration domain, this book shows that EU litigation can also be used to defend powerless groups. To explore the conditions under which EU legal mobilization for migrants emerges, the author compares three countries where EU migration law was mobilized before the European Court of Justice (Italy, the UK, and the Netherlands) and one where it was not (Greece). Combining empirical and doctrinal methods, this volume draws on interviews with key stakeholders and an original database of 505 migration preliminary references. Rather than focusing only on courts, Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights sheds light on the role of lawyers, academics, and civil society in activating EU justice to oppose restrictive national migration policies. Crucially, the book ultimately reveals that EU legal mobilization struggles to emerge in some contexts due to a lack of resources and limited awareness of EU legal opportunities, which stand as significant obstacles to justice and migrant rights enforcement.

The European Court of Justice plays a key role in the interpretation and enforcement of EU law. Yet, we still know little about the conditions under which cases arrive at the Court via preliminary reference and why they are so unevenly distributed across the EU Member States. Previous studies have shown how the legal elites played a central role in feeding the Court with cases to increase their power and influence. Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights tells a different story. Focusing on the migration domain, this book shows that EU litigation can also be used to defend powerless groups. To explore the conditions under which EU legal mobilization for migrants emerges, the author compares three countries where EU migration law was mobilized before the European Court of Justice (Italy, the UK, and the Netherlands) and one where it was not (Greece). Combining empirical and doctrinal methods, this volume draws on interviews with key stakeholders and an original database of 505 migration preliminary references. Rather than focusing only on courts, Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights sheds light on the role of lawyers, academics, and civil society in activating EU justice to oppose restrictive national migration policies. Crucially, the book ultimately reveals that EU legal mobilization struggles to emerge in some contexts due to a lack of resources and limited awareness of EU legal opportunities, which stand as significant obstacles to justice and migrant rights enforcement.

Presenting cutting-edge insights into the current state of EU legislation, this book addresses the profound changes that the EU’s legislature has undergone in recent years and how these shape EU law. At the heart of this inquiry is how the strive for uniform EU legislation is balanced with the necessity to leave a certain degree of autonomy to member states, and how such tension between unity and diversity is reflected in the design of EU legislation.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.