A Union under pressure: Fracturing uniformity, and the continued quest of European integration

Graham Butler, PhD Fellow, Centre for Comparative and European Constitutional Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen

Abstract: The unitary nature of the Union’s legal order is under tremendous strain. Recent developments across the European Union, namely the financial crisis and migration issues, have dominated the European landscape, garnering the most public attention, and political capital. Whilst there has always been the ability of national actors to test the limits of legal uniformity, putting it on a long collision course with pressure to further integrate the economies and societies of EU Member States, these recent events are putting even greater tension on the European legal order.

Over time, the application and harmonisation of Union law has been mitigated by a necessity to allow formal carve-outs and informal political understandings of derogation in order to ensure that Union law is applied to the greatest extent possible, and even keep Member States within the Union. Going forward, the forcefulness of further legal disparity is highly likely. Levelling the lack of legal uniformity, competing against the continued push for greater European integration will be one of the Union’s greatest legal challenges in the foreseeable future, requiring new ways of accommodating divergent interests.

About the Lecture Series "European Futures?"

For the first time a member state has decided to exit the European Union. Growing Euroscepticism in all parts of Europe, rising nationalism, and more people than ever believing the European project is failing point perhaps to the dawn of a new and very different Europe. This autumn the EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series, entitled ‘European Futures?’, will explore the prospects for the Europe of tomorrow. We are pleased to welcome you on this journey.

In the first two lectures by Hans-Jörg Trenz and Michael Bossetta we will investigate possible explanations for increasing Euroscepticism and rising populism across Europe and think about  the consequences for Europe and the future of the EU. In the third lecture Charlotte Galpin will introduce us to the implications of the EU crisis for European identities and solidarity, and how changes to these have implications for tackling the EU’s future challenges. In the fourth lecture Holly Snaith will dig into one of the most pressing and significant challenges EU faces: Brexit and the consequences, not just for the UK, but also for Europe as a whole, with one of the main questions being whether Brexit signals further disintegration of the EU. In the last two of the ordinary EURECO lectures we move on to look at the legal and judicial integration of Europe. In his lecture Juan Mayoral will examine the relevance of trust for the EU’s multi-level judicial system, while Graham Butler will explore how recent events, such as the financial and migration crises, create tensions for the European legal order. In the Final Honorary Lecture we have the great pleasure to welcome to Copenhagen Professor Dame Helen Wallace from the British Academy (latterly of the LSE, the European University Institute in Florence and the University of Sussex), one of the world’s most distinguished scholars of European integration.

The EURECO Distinguished Lectures are open to the public and we invite everyone who takes an interest in European issues to sign-up for a series where some of the best scholars within the field will present and discuss their current work. 

The lectures will take place Wednesdays from 15.15 – 17.00

Registration is free of charge but necessary at www.eureco.ku.dk

To read more on the distinguised lecture series visit eureco's site.