Twenty-seven European nations have established among themselves a European Union (EU), on which they have conferred competences to attain certain common objectives. These objectives include the promotion of peace, the well-being of its peoples, and the promotion of certain common values: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. The EU also aims to offer European citizens an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers, and an economically healthy and sustainable internal market. The Union set up an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro. The Union also developed a common foreign and security policy. In its relations with the wider world, the Union proclaims to uphold and promote its values and interests and contribute to the protection of its citizens. The Union has an institutional framework at its disposal, which has the task to promote the EU ‘s values, advance the EU’s objectives, and serve the interests of the EU citizens and Member States, both within and outside Europe. The EU’s legislative organs are the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The executive organ is the European Council. The European Commission oversees the application of Union law by Member States, and the Court of Justice of the European Union, being the EU’s judicial organ, ensures that Member States correctly apply EU law. The European Central Bank maintains the euro’s purchasing power and oversees price stability in the euro zone.
This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on the European Union. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library’s classification index code European Union in General and subject heading (keyword) European Union are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue.
Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.
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Door de Amerikaanse kredietcrisis van 2008 is ook de economie in Europa zwaar in de problemen geraakt: het vertrouwen is weg, de beurzen zakken tot ongekende diepten. Overal komen over heden met miljardenplannen om de crisis te bezweren. Maar is dat voldoende? De situatie is ernstig maar het is nog niet te laat. Guy Verhofstadt toont aan hoe een werkelijk verenigd Europa het tij kan keren en de wereldeconomie er weer bovenop kan helpen.
Verhofstadts even heldere als bondige analyse mondt uit in een krachtig Europees antwoord in drie concrete stappen.
As Europe’s leaders seek to finally secure the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon after the Irish “no” vote, it is time to take a step back and review the past decade of attempts at European constitutional reform in a broader perspective. This book not only discusses the changes that had been envisaged under the EU’s Constitutional Treaty and the Treaty of Lisbon. It also shows, in a number of areas of European integration, the continuity of Europe’s constitutional development before and beyond Lisbon. Subjects covered are treaty-making and understanding the outcome of referendums; the process of de-pillarization and the development of the Union’s human rights agenda; citizenship, migration and foreign policy; the EU’s “social market economy”; the role of national parliaments and the pursuit to maximize executive accountability and democratic legitimacy in the EU; and issues surrounding democracy and transparency. Views on the future of European constitutionalism conclude the discussion.
Composed of essays by fifteen leading European scholars, this book demonstrates that European constitutionalism did not start with the Constitutional Treaty and that neither will it end after the Treaty of Lisbon.
Jan Wouters , 2009The law of the external relations of the European Union is a subject of great importance. The EU institutions have developed an extensive practice in this area, by concluding many international agreements, by participating in the work of international organizations, and by legislating and regulating on matters of external relations. It is a practice giving rise to many legal problems and questions, as evidenced by the substantial and fast expanding body of case-law in this area from the EU Courts. These problems and questions are often of constitutional significance, and the external relations law of the EU therefore occupies an important place in the overall constitutional and institutional development of the EU.
This volume examines the legal foundations of the EU’s external relations. It focuses on the EU’s external competencies and objectives; on the instruments, principles, and actors of external policies; and on the legal effects of international agreements and international law. It analyses a number of key external policies, particularly in the fields of trade and foreign policy.
Substantially updated to take into account recent case law, it also incorporates an examination of the changes made by the Lisbon Treaty. This new edition, formerly published as External Relations of the European Union: Legal and Constitutional Foundations, is an invaluable asset to those studying and working in the field.
Piet Eeckhout, 2011Droit UE online contains all documents published by the European Communities since 1951. It includes treaties, international agreements, legislation published in the Journal of the European Union L series, the national implementing measures, travaux préparatoires, opinions, recommendations, resolutions, jurisprudence, the Journal of the European Union C series, communications and information, parliamentary questions, etc. The English version is OJ OnlinePlus.
EUR-Lex provides free access to European Union law and other documents considered to be public. The collection include treaties, international agreements, legislation in force, preparatory acts, case-law and parliamentary questions.
European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters (EJN) is a website managed by the European Commission and contains a large quantity of information about the Member States, on several aspects of civil and commercial law and community law.
OJ Online is the leading database in the field of EU law, based on EUR-Lex, the official database of the European Union. OJ Online also contains documents published by the issuing institutions, even if they are not published in the official publications. The database is fully cross-referenced EU legal materials and contains documents from 1951 to present day: Treaties and International Agreements, Official Journal L & C records fully indexed, cross-referenced and updated daily, National measures implementing EU directives from all member states, Case law (all cases before the ECJ and CFI updated on a daily basis), Consolidated legislation, Preparatory documents, Commission proposals, legislative resolutions, opinions, Council common positions, Commission decisions (from prior notification to published decision collected daily from the website of the Competition Commission), EFTA documents, judgments, agreements from the EFTA institutions, Press releases, public register documents, agendas, minutes and other publications from the principle EU bodies, EU Web directory (a unique and growing collection of nearly 2000 searchable EU websites). The French version is Droit UE Online.
On June 28, 2011 a conference was held about The European Union (hereafter EU) as a Polity in International Law at the Academy Hall of the Peace Palace, The Hague, The Netherlands. The conference was held at the initiative of Mr. Jaap Hoeksma, Director of Euroknow. This initiative was supported by Dr P. H. Kooijmans, Prof Dr L-J Brinkhorst, Dr W.F. van Eekelen, Dr W.van Gerven and Dr Th. van Boven.
The theme of the conference was the legal status of the European Union and its relationship with international law.From its inception, the main goal of the European Union and its integration in the legal as well as political systems of the Member states has been faced with conceptual problems regarding the final goal of the establishment of the European Union. The purpose of the conference was to discuss whether the Lisbon Treaty has overcome the problems by constructing the EU as a democratic polity without turning the Union into a state. If so, what are the consequences for the place of the EU as a polity in international law and for its role in international relations?
Read moreOn Friday 11 March 2011, Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami, also known as the Tōhoku earthquake. Japan’s nuclear crisis that was caused by the earthquake and tsunami has so far evoked many questions and worries about the safety of nuclear energy just like the Chernobyl disaster evoked responses in the 1980s. It raises questions about the possible impact of nuclear energy industry on safety and health. Several European countries have discussed the use of nuclear energy and safety measures or have temporarily shut down nuclear reactors since the Japanese earthquake of 11 March 2011.
Read moreOn October 2, 2010, the 11th and final round of the negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was concluded successfully in Tokyo, Japan. The Government of Japan hosted the negotiations. Participants in the negotiations included Australia, Canada, the European Union (EU) – represented by the European Commission and the EU Presidency (Belgium) and the [...]
Read moreIn July 2010, The French government decided to begin to expel Roma’s, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria, as many of them were living in France illegally. This decision caused much controversy within the Institutions of the EU. This blog will briefly discuss in what way EU institutions have responded to recent Roma issues and what can be done to improve the position of this marginalized community in Europe.
Read moreOn 14 October 2009 the European Commission adopted its annual strategy document explaining its policy on EU enlargement. The document includes also a summary of the progress made over the last twelve months by each candidate and potential candidate: Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, [...]
Read moreCounterfeiting, which represents 5 to 7% of world trade, has implications on the competitiveness of EU companies, on jobs and on the health and security of EU citizens. László Kovác, European Commissioner in charge of Taxation and Customs Union, states his vision on the fight against counterfeiting as follows. ‘Customs have a vital role [...]
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De Verenigde Staten van Europa : manifest voor een nieuw Europa / , 2005
EU external relations law / , 2011
European constitutionalism beyond Lisbon / , 2009
European Union Law : Cases and Materials / , 2010
A guide to European Union law : as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon / , 2010
Wyatt and Dashwood's European Union law / , 2006
