EU Laws And Institutions: A Comprehensive Essay." (50 Characters)

Introduction to the EU and Brexit

The United Kingdom (UK) has been a part of the European Union (EU) since January 01^st, 1973 (Europa, 2017a). Even though in June 2016, a referendum was passed to leave the EU, the UK continues to be a part of the EU, till such time, the details of the Brexit, i.e., Britain’s exit from the EU, is finalized (Hunt and Wheeler, 2016). As a result of being a member of the EU, the laws of EU continue to apply over the UK.

In the following parts, the details of the EU laws have been discussed, which covers a discussion over a range of aspects, including the sources of European Law and the discriminatory practices, amongst the other things.

In EU, the work is carried on through seven distinctive institutions, which act as the decision making body for the EU. The Treaty of EU, through Article 13 defines these seven and these are:

• European Parliament
• European Council
• European Parliament
• Court of Justice of the EU
• Council of EU
• Court of Auditors; and
• European Central Bank.

However, there are four core bodies, which carry out the work of the EU and these are the Council, Commission, Parliament and the Court of Justice (Bogdandy and Bast, 2009).

The European Parliament undertakes the legislative function of the EU and is the directly elected EU’ parliamentary institution. The legislative functions of the Parliament are discharged with the help of the Council and the European Commission. The operations are conducted on the basis of the Rules of Procedure adopted by the Parliament (Peterson and Hodson, 2017).

The European Council consists of the head of the member states’ government and defines the overall political priorities and directions of the EU. The functions of the Council are mentioned under the Lisbon treaty, under which it operates, and as per these functions, the council provides the required thrust for the development of the Union (Peterson and Hodson, 2017).

The European Commission functions as the proposer of legislations, implementation of the decisions, management of daily business of EU and upholding the treaties of the EU. It operates as a cabinet government, and has twenty eight members, which are commonly referred to as commissioners (Peterson and Hodson, 2017).

The Court of Justice of the EU operates as the judicial branch of the EU and has the function of the interpretation of the treaties and laws of EU (Peterson and Hodson, 2017).  

Hence, it is quite clear that EU and its institutions have significant functions and operations and a close look at these functions show that the institutions also have an impact over the workplace. For instance, the treaties which have been proposed by the European Commission have to be adhered if applicable on the workplace. 

EU Laws and its Seven Institutions

There are five constitutional principles which underline the laws of the EU and these include proportionality; conferral; division of powers; delegated sovereignty; and subsidiarity (Protesilaos Stavrou, 2015). European citizenship was brought forward through the Article 9 of TEU (Treaty of EU) and Article 20 of the TFEU (Treaty of Functioning of the EU). It is significant in formation of a European identity. European citizen co-exists and is complementary to the Member State’s citizenship (Bux, 2017). This European citizenship plays a crucial role when an individual of one member state, wants to work in another member state. For instance, if I want to go and work in France, I can do so, with the help of European citizenship, which is the advantage of holding European citizenship.

Federalism is a set of specific combination of shared rule, i.e., participation, of limited rule, i.e., superposition, and of self-rule, i.e., autonomy, which coexist at two independent levels of government, which act concurrently over its citizens. The functions which federal constitutions help in achieving are very specific, for instance distributing between the central unit and the constituent units, defining the latter, and also making available a conflict resolution scheme (Auer, 2005).

The principle of subsidiarity is stated along with the first two principles under TEU’s Article 5. It is a principle through which, the decision making of a particular topic has to take place close to the locality and to the citizen, as much as is possible. It is enshrined in the Treaties with the objective of providing guidance and framing of exercise (Protesilaos Stavrou, 2015).

The laws of EU are bifurcated in two segments, primary and secondary legislation. The primary legislation is in the form of treaties and is the ground or basic rules for all of the action of EU. The secondary legislation includes decisions, regulations and directives, which are derived from the objectives and principles which have been set out in the primary legislation (Europa, 2017b).

EU is based on the rule of law. Hence, each and every action that is taken by EU is based on these treaties and the same have been approved democratically, as well as, voluntarily by the member countries of the EU. For instance, in case a particular policy area has not been cited in any treaty, the same cannot be proposed by the Commission in that area. A treaty sets out the rules for EU institutions, the manner of making decisions, and the relationship between member nations and the EU (Europa, 2017c).

Core Bodies of the EU

A directive denotes a legislative act, which helps in setting the objective which has to be attained by all the nations of EU. For instance, the EU consumer rights directives apply on consumers throughout EU. The decisions of EU are only binding on the ones who have been addressed the same. For instance, the decision of the Commission, regarding the “EU participating in the work of various counter-terrorism organizations” is only applicable on such organizations. The recommendations are not binding. So, when a recommendation is issued by the Commission to the law authorities of the EU nation, for improving the usage of videoconferencing, so as to help the judicial services work in a better way across the borders, it does not have a legal consequence. The Opinion acts as an instrument which allows a statement to be made by the institutions in a manner, which is not binding. In short, an opinion does not impose legal obligations to which they have been addressed. And they can be issues by Commission, Parliament, and Council (Europa, 2017d).

This denotes that the European Laws go through a long process of being formed and have to be approved and affirmed by the appropriate authorities, before they can come into being. So it is easy to criticize a treaty or a directive of the EU, but a number of aspects had to be considered. And only after a thorough discussion, a law is divided into different category. 

These are the general principles, which the European Court of Justice applies, along with the member states’ national courts, for determining the administrative and legislative measures’ lawfulness, in the EU. The European Court of Justice recognizes legal certainty, proportionality, and fundamental human rights, amongst the other things as the general principles of EU law (Tridimas, 2013).

• Fundamental Human Rights: In the arguments placed in Stauder v City of UlmCase 29/69, through the arguments of German Constitutional Court, the humans rights were recognized. These include the right to liberty, freedom of religion, thought, movement, expression, amongst the other things. They act as the very basic rights of an individual, which have to be protected and are needed for enjoying their life (Raitio, 2013).
• Proportionality: it covers different special, yet related concepts and the purpose of these is to use it as a base for justice and fairness in the process of statutory interpretation, with a specific regard to the constitutional law. This acts as a logical method, the intention of which is to help in attaining a correct balance between imposed restrictions through a corrective measure and the severity of prohibited act’s nature (Tridimas, 2013).
• Legal Certainty: As per this, the ones who are subjected to a law need to have the ability of regulating their conduct. In short, the law has to be clear, precise, and certain and the legal implications of it have to be foreseeable, with regards to the financial obligations which have been applied (Tridimas, 2013).

The general principles of the EU are what form the base of EU. In other words, the theme of EU and is objectives is reflected in these principles. For instance, the EU necessitates that the human rights are upheld and this becomes particularly important in a workplace as the people in workplace are required to adhere to the human rights. 

The European Court of Justice has developed a doctrine of supremacy of the EU over the national laws. So, in case of a conflict between the EU laws and the laws of the Member States, the EU law would prevail. This creates sovereignty issues and results in conflicts. The sovereignty of EU laws over the domestic laws of the EU acts as a hindrances in the parliamentary sovereignty. The cases like Costa v ENEL. Flaminio Costa v ENEL (1964) Case 6/64, Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH v Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel (1970) Case 11/70 and Amministrazione delle Finanze v Simmenthal SpA (1978) Case 106/77 prove this principle conclusively. Hence, the domestic courts have to apply the EU laws (Beck, 2013).

The Role and Function of Each Core Body

When an individual works for full time, in such a job which is a normally paid one, then for the purpose of EU laws, the individual is a worker. The key feature here is the employment relationship which an individual has, based on the time period for which services are performed under the direction of another, who in turn pays the remuneration for attaining such services. So, four key factors have to be established and these are purpose, the commitment of time, remuneration and working under direction of another. Once an individual fulfills this criterion, the individual attains the freedom of movement of workers as his right, and the provisions of the same are covered under TFEU’s Article 45 (Barnard, 2012).

In any workplace, it is crucial that this concept is properly as the laws which have been drawn by the EU, with regards to workplace, are applicable only if the person is a worker. And based on this, workers get their rights, which enable them to make a case in case such rights are breached.

The citizens of EU have the same rights as the nationals of the EU nation, in which they seek to work. And they have to work under same conditions, even without needing to apply for a work permit. So they have a right to entry, right to remain and right to residency. These rights are provided through the Freedom of Movement Act, 2004 of the EU, which got its last amendment on December 21^st, 2015. This ensures that the EU nationals are treated equally in other EU nations (Juris, 2016). Through the Directive of Council of 29 April 2004 and Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament, with regards to right of the citizens of the EU and their families, can move and reside in a free manner in different Member States (EUR-Lex, 2015). Hence, if an individual, like us, wants to relocate themselves in Italy, they can freely do so, due to the right of equal treatment provided to us, by being the nations of EU.

This is the biggest benefit in my view of being a member of the EU. This is because this enables the workers like me to explore the employment opportunities in other EU states. And hence, the chance of getting a better job opportunity, for personal growth of my career, would be possible due to the equal treatment of EU nationals.   

Constitutional Principles of EU Laws

The nationals of EU have the working rights in other EU nations and it is crucial that they are treated in the exact same manner, as the workers who belong to such nations, with regards to the access to training and the working conditions, for instance, reinstatement, pay and dismissal (Europa, 2017e). The free movement of workers has its legal base in TEU’s Article 3(2) and in TFEU’s Article 4(2) (a), 20, 26 and 45-48. The objective is to abolish discrimination on the basis of nationality of the Member States’ workers with regards to the conditions of working, remuneration and employment (Schmid-Drüner, 2007).

However, these rights can be derogated in different ways. On the basis of public health, public policy and public security, the Member States have the right to refuse residence or entry to a national of other Member State. These measures are required to be based upon the individual’s personal conduct, which has to sufficiently represent a serious, as well as, a current threat to the state’s fundamental interests. A series of procedural guarantees are provided under Directive 2004/38/EC for this matter. Free movement of the workers is not applicable for the employment in a public sector under TFEU’s Article 45(4). However this derogation has to be interpreted in a restrictive manner by the Court of Justice, as per which, only two aspects can be restricted for own nations, i.e., the post which involve public authority, and that of responsibility of protecting the state’s general interests. Certain conditions can also be applied after the accession of Member States during a transitional period, which can restrict such movement of workers (Schmid-Drüner, 2007).

In my view, the derogation of these rights is justified. The situations highlighted above, may seem unjust on paper, but when it comes to the practical applicability of these principles, it becomes crucial that these points are safeguarded. And this is the reason why the Court of Justice has upheld these derogations.

Members States have the power of reducing the movement of goods and services as a result of public security and morality, protection of industry and commercial property and protection of public health, life of animal, plants, and humans, and these are deemed as justified. In non-harmonized areas too, the same can be done, through, compulsory usage of national language, political restrictions, specific presentation of goods, promoting national goods and services, nation based provisions like import license, inspection, and controls, and the national ban or specified goods or services. The same can be overcome by making certain that the free movement rules of the EU are properly understood and applied. Legal support is provided by the Commission to the information bodies for promoting best practices in the local authorities. It is crucial that the social inclusion challenges are addressed by the member states (Weatherill, 2016).

European Citizenship

Even though I support the derogation of rights, I am not a supporter of the discriminatory practice which is adopted to curtail the free movement. This is because the EU rights are based on human rights and these mandate an equal treatment of the people who have EU citizenship. 

A sole internal market was created by the EU in the year of 1993 which had to make certain that there was a freedom in movement of services, people, capital and goods. Along with this, the citizens of Europe had the freedom to live, do business, study and work (Weatherill, 2016). This is what makes the EU successful. This has also helped in creating an internal market which helps the citizens and businesses in Europe. More job opportunities are created with the internal strength getting stronger. And even the businesses get more resources which held them in being market leaders. This freedom has resulted in the creation of a competitive and open environment, along with a single platform which is diverse (Baskoy, 2008). Through Article 28 to 30, the impositions which restrict the intra trade in EU have been prohibited. These trade restrictions polices, with the passage of time, have identified some areas for protective of environment and even political implications (Maciejewski, 2017).

Like EU citizenship, the freedom of goods and services is what makes EU successful. Due to this freedom, a person gets the opportunity of freely trading with the other EU nations and thus increasing their prospects of growth. For any organization, this proves to be one of the reasons to work in the EU nations, so that their growth is not hurdled with unnecessary trade restrictions.

As highlighted earlier, the workers have the freedom or residing in other EU nations, and can freely look for job in other nations. They are often registered as “EU Migrant Workers” by the host nations. The administrative legal formalities are in the form of length of stay, which can be for a period of 3 months, beyond 3 months, and even permanent (Europa, 2017f).

The non-workers include the family members of the workers who go to another nation to work or live there, irrespective of their nationality. The family members which are allowed, include spouse; registered partners, given the host nation treats such registered partnerships in the same manner as marriage; the dependents based on the ascending lines, for instance, parents, followed by grandparents, and also the descents, particularly when they are below the age of twenty-one (European Parliament, 2017).

Federalism

It becomes the EU nations’ responsibility to facilitate the entry, as well as, the residence of the members who are associated with the workers. This is significant in cases of dependants or other family members in the household of the workers, owing to the serious health of the family member requiring personal care; and of such individual who has a durable relationship by being the partner of the worker (OECD, 2016).

In case of departure, death, divorce or annulment of marriage, or the termination of the registered partnership, the family member’s right of residency can be retained in special situation, so long as they maintain a family relation and most importantly, do not become a substantial economic burden on the host Member State or a possible risk to the public order (Europa, 2017f).

The adherence and respect towards the human rights are reflected through the adoption of such policies where even the family members of the workers are given shelter. Though, to curb the unnecessary burden on another EU nation, it needs to be proved that such family member would not be an economic burden on the nation. And yet, London is full of dependent family members, who in my view are not fulfilling this restriction.

Conclusion

On these bases, it can be easily concluded that the EU has a major impact over all of the member states, which form a part of the EU and UK, being a part of EU, has to follow the directives and treaties made by the EU. Further, UK is also required to adhere to the guidelines or the opinions of the EU institutions. The workers of EU, have the freedom of working and even settling down in other member states of the EU, provided the exceptions stated above, are not applied on them.

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