The Pluralist Character of the European Economic Constitution

Description

This monograph intervenes in the long-standing and controversial debate on the socio-economic orientation of the European Union. Arguing that the European economic constitution is pluralist in the sense that it does not favour any specific socio-economic paradigm, it shows that European law allows the pursuit of very different regulatory projects by the European and the national legislators. This pluralist character of the European economic constitution stands in an uncomfortable relationship with the policies currently pursued by the European Union, which are often neoliberal in their orientation. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach: it analyses the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as interpreted and developed in the case law of the Court of Justice, its history, and its regulatory purpose in the light of conflicting socio-economic paradigms. By challenging the orthodoxy, the book makes a bold proposition that will likely resonate in both European economic law scholarship and European law in general. With the ongoing economic crisis triggering a significant interest in economic questions among legal scholars it is particularly timely and topical. Volume 67 in the Series Modern Studies in European Law Acknowledgements Contents Introduction Methodical Considerations 1. Interpreting the Treaty in its Historical Context I: The Treaty of Rome Introduction Trade Liberalization Prior to 1957 The Regulatory Approach of the Treaty of Rome: Enabling 'Undistorted Competition' in an 'Economic Union' through Market-Making and Harmonization The Common Market Within an 'Economic Union' Coordination and Harmonization Intermediate Findings 2. Interpreting the Treaty in its Historical Context II: The 1992 Project Introduction The Pressures to which the 1992 Project Reacted The Economic Assumptions Behind '1992' The Primary Law Reforms of the 1992 Project The Regulatory Strategies of '1992' The Completive Measures of '1992' Intermediate Findings 3. The Internal Market Law Provisions and the Case Law Developed on its Basis Introduction The Pluralist Character of Article 34 TFEU: the Treaty Text and its Early Interpretation The Pluralist Character of the Free Movement of Goods Case Law: Reassessing Dassonville, Cassis and Keck The Pluralist Character of Articles 49 and 56 TFEU and the Doctrinal System Developed on its Basis Balancing in Internal Market Law Two Studies of Doctrines in Internal Market Law Adjudication Intermediate Findings 4. A Purposive Interpretation of the Treaty: The Pursuit of the Union's Diverse Socio-Economic Objectives, and Economics as Contested Knowledge Introduction Dissent in the Discipline of Economics International Trade Growth and Prosperity Intermediate Findings 5. Monetary Union, the Measures Enacted Since 2008 and the 'European Macroeconomic Constitution' Introduction Competing Socio-economic Views on the EMU Reading the EU Treaty as a Pluralist Macroeconomic Instrument The Pluralist Character of the Treaty in the Light of the Crisis Measures Intermediate Findings Conclusion Bibliography Index