Week 2

Question 1

The EU as a system of limited government

Answer 1

It does not ave wide authority like national governments do.

It can only act where the member states have granted it the authority to do so

Question 2

Costa v ENEL case

Question 3

Ministers delve Finanze

Question 4

Solange I

Question 5

Are there safeguards against the EU exceeding its power.

Question 6

National Parliaments

Question 7

Summary of Supremacy

Answer 7

The EU law produced by the Council of Ministers jointly with the EP has supremacy over Member State’ law
EU has only powers conferred by the Treaty
Use of EU powers is limited by principle of subsidiarity except where EU is exercising its exclusive competence

Question 8

The Three types of competence

Answer 8

1. Exclusive competence (Member states cannot act unless EU authorises it)
2. Shared competence ( Member states can act when the EU has not)
3. Supporting powers (EU helps Member States to exercise their competence)

Question 10

What is the hierarchy of legal norms?

Answer 10

The vertical ordering of legal acts

Things lower on the hierarchy are subject to things higher up

Higher norms can invalidate lower norms

Question 11

General Principles of Law

Answer 11

The “unwritten law” of the EU, brought into EU law by the CJEU case law derives from: the national constitutions of the MS, international treaties and EU legislative framework

Question 12

Secondary sources: Legislative Acts

Answer 12

‘Legal acts adopted by legislative procedure’
Can come in forms of regulations, directives or decisions

Question 13

Van Gend en Loos

Answer 13

Dutch import company required to pay an increased custom duty by authorities. The importer didn’t want to pay and argued it was against community law.

Question 15

What is the direct effect of treaty articles?

Answer 15

YES a private individual can exercise a right from an article of the treaty before their national court. ONLY if the treaty article is unconditional, leaves no discretion to member states and it is sufficiently clear and precise

Question 16

What is Vertical direct effect?

Answer 16

It creates rights that an individual can exercise only against the state (public sector female employee can sue the state for discrimination)

Question 17

What is Horizontal direct effect?

Answer 17

It creates rights that an individual can exercise against private individuals too ( a private sector employee can sue her boss for unequal pay))

Question 18

To overcome the problem what did the CJEU try to do?

Answer 18

1. Enlarge the notion of the state against which a lawsuit can be raised
   2.Compensation on the part of the state to an aggrieved citizen for failure to implement the directive
   3.Indirect effect of directives
   4.Incidental direct effect of directives

Question 19

Francovich Principle