Poland Just Raised a Question the European Union Must Answer
Forces the bloc to decide whether it wants to be a federation or just a club.
Brussels, obviously, cannot let this stand. That situation would overturn the EU’s presumed vertical hierarchy, in which the European Court, based in Luxembourg, sits atop the 27-member nations’ high courts the same way the U.S. Supreme Court has primacy over state courts.
The EU tried to adopt a constitution once, but in 2005 French and Dutch voters rejected it in referendums. In its absence, the bloc continues to rely on treaties among the member states.
But those are clearer on the European Court’s horizontal supremacy — its power to review the law coming out of other pan-European institutions — and rather vague on its vertical authority vis-a-vis national courts.
Another constitutional convention would revive the idea of “ever closer union,” which implies a sovereign European state as the ultimate destination.
Europe’s leaders and citizens may regard that as unrealistic or even undesirable. It could, in time, lead other nations to follow the British example and exit. If so, the EU should at least admit that a federation is no longer the goal.
Andreas Kluth Bloomberg 12 oktober 2021
EU’s draft constitution, produced by a convention that he chaired, was voted down by his fellow French citizens and by the Dutch before its reforms finally found a home in the Lisbon treaty of 2009.
The referendum defeats in 2005 shook the entire Union and exposed the gap between the people and the Brussels elite.
FT 3 December 2020
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2020/12/valery-giscard-destaing.html
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