THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) LAW
Compare and contrast the different forms of EU law and their operation. Discuss the constitutional issues EU law creates for the UK’s political and legal systems.
The Different Forms of the EU law and their Operations
The European Union law is a system of rules that operates among the members of the European Union. The EU was formed to promote peace, its values, and the well-being of its members. To this effect, the body has its legal personality, thus having its legal order distinct from international law. Therefore, it directly or indirectly affects the regulations of its members and becomes an essential element in their legal systems. This judicial order is also categorized into two that is primary legislation, secondary legislation, and supplementary law (The European Commission, 2020). The primary legislation includes its treaties and the general principles that govern them, and the secondary legislation relies on the treaties. The supplementary laws are the generally unwritten principles that have been developed by case laws of the Court of Justice. The EU law also has the supplementary that allows its court to close the primary and secondary legislation gaps. These could include international law and other general principles.
The EU primary legislation, which contains the treaties, will be the starting point for the EU law. These treaties determine each action to be taken by the EU. They are binding agreements between the member states, which will set out their objectives, the rules for its respective institutions, the process of making decisions, and the existent relationship between the EU body and the member states (The European Union, 2020). These treaties undergo regular amendments for reforming the EU institutions and also provide further responsibility areas. The changes also look to bring in new countries into the EU. Primary legislation also includes general principles that are the ground rules for the Eu and its member states.
On the other hand, secondary legislation is the body of law that arises from the treaties’ principles and objectives. The secondary legislation is arranged in a hierarchy that has been set out in Articles 189, 290, and 291of the TFEU. It sets out the legislative acts, delegated acts, and the implemented actions. The legislative acts have been adopted via the ordinary or a specific legislative procedure. The delegated acts are the non-legislative acts that are generally applied to supplement or amend the non-essential elements of the legislative acts. The Commission adopts the implemented acts in instances where uniform conditions for the implementation of legally binding acts are required. These acts are considered the regulations for general application which are entirely binding and applicable directly by all member states. These regulations will supersede the national legal systems, which are incompatible due to their substantive provisions.
Other forms of secondary legislation include directives that are binding in terms of the results to be achieved. Still, the member states are allowed to choose the type and methods to address the directives through their national institutions (Bux, 2020). In this case, the national legislators could adopt a transposing act or a national implementing measure to transpose the directives and bring their national laws with their objectives. Other forms include decisions, recommendations, and actions. Decisions are binding in their entirety solely for the institutions that are addressed by theme, which could be the member states, the natural or legal persons. These decisions address particular situations for these institutions. The recommendations and opinions do not vest any rights or obligations on the institutions sent, but they act as guidelines for the interpretation and content of the Union law. Opinions are instruments allowing the institutions to make a statement in a non-binding manner which could be issued by the primary EU institutions, and the different Committees (European Union, 2020). The committees are responsible for giving opinions on their particular viewpoints from either the region or an economic or social aspect.
Constitutional Issues EU law Creates for the UK’s Political and Legal Systems.
The UK is governed by the English legal system that contains the regulations governing its legal matters. When the UK became part of the European Union (EU), the community law would automatically become applicable in the country. However, this application brought in immense issues. One of the issues brought by European law to the UK’s legal system is its direct applicability or its direct effect. For instance, the UK constitution established the country’s parliament as its sovereign, meaning no other laws in the country are above that has been made by the government. The parliament is the highest legislative authority in the UK, makes it the sole organization that can create law. However, its membership in the EU compromised the parliament’s sovereignty. The Treaty of Rome formed in 1957 is the primary law of the European Community, and hence it affects all the member states, including the UK. This could easily attract a conflict between the treaty and the UPK parliament, for instance, is a ruling is made favoring the European Union Law, the British parliament may be considered inferior and not sovereign as stipulated by the respective constitution.m some of the decisions may negatively affect the country’s citizens mainly due to the priority given to community law and the tenet of direct applicability.
Another constitutional issue is how the U’s legal system can address the rights of its citizens. The areas that have been affected by the EU law are mainly the rights of employees, the female workers, and the children. This was well illustrated in the vase of R v Secretary of State for Employment ex parte Equal Opportunities Communities where the jury would indicate that some elements of the Employment Protect Act 1978 were not in line with the EU law on equal treatment of workers regardless of gender (UNEP, 2004, 206). The Act had given the part-time employees a minimum number of rights compared to the full-time workers. The female part-time employees were being discriminated against due to their gender, and hence the EU law was forced to amend their rules and improve the rights of all part-time workers. This was a good move, but it illustrates that the national legal systems are bound to be changed to ensure that they remain in line with the EU law. The UK’s political and legal systems need to understand that the EU laws are supreme; hence, they will prevail in case of conflicts with national legislation (Full Fact, 2016). This will ensure that the EU law is applied uniformly, and thus the national legal systems are required to change their constitutions to adhere to this principle.
References
Bux, U., 2020. Sources And Scope Of European Union Law | Fact Sheets On The European Union | European Parliament. [online] Europarl.europa.eu. Available at:
European Commission, 2020. Types Of EU Law. [online] European Commission – European Commission. Available at:
Full Fact, 2016. How The EU Works: EU Law And The UK. [online] Full Fact. Available at:
The European Union, 2020. Regulations, Directives, And Other Acts | European Union. [online] European Union. Available at:
UNEP, 2004. Compendium Of Summary Of Judicial Decisions In Environment Related Cases.
