Differentiation was at first not perceived as a threat to the European project, but rather as a tool to promote further integration. Today, more EU policies than ever are marked by concentric circles of integration and a lack of uniform application. As the EU faces increasingly existential challenges, this timely book considers whether the proliferation of mechanisms of flexibility has contributed to this newly fragile state or whether, to the contrary, differentiation has been fundamental to integration despite the heterogeneity of national interests and priorities.

Offering a wealth of thought-provoking insights, this topical Research Handbook analyses the interplay between the law and politics of the EU and examines the role of law and legal actors in European integration.

This book offers a topical inquiry into the legal and political limits of EU regulation in the field of risk and new technologies surrounded by techno-scientific complexity, uncertainty, and societal contestation. It uses agricultural biotechnology as a paradigmatic example to illustrate the complex intertwinement between environmental, public health, economic and social concerns in risk regulation. Weimer analyses the drawbacks of the EU approach to agricultural biotechnology showing that its reductionism, i.e. the narrow understanding of GMO risks as well as the exclusion of broader societal concerns related to environmental and social sustainability, has undermined both the legitimacy and effectiveness of EU regulation in this area. Resistance to this approach however has also triggered legal innovations prompting us to re-think EU internal market law, including the way in which it manages the tensions between unity and diversity, and between social and economic concerns. This text offers fresh and original insights into how far the EU can go in harmonizing regulatory approaches to risk. At the same time, it proposes new ways of re-thinking EU risk regulation to make it more responsive to different perspectives on risk and technology. A unique feature of this book is that it contributes to various strains of scholarship including risk regulation, internal market law, public administration, and studies of governance and regulation, as well as connecting these themes to broader debates about the legitimacy of European integration and new ways of differentiated integration. As a result it assists in re-imagining the EU internal market and its regulation as a site of diversity.

This thought-provoking book examines the state of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and its shortcomings in terms of social rights protection in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the Euro crisis. Providing a critical analysis of the basic tenets of European economic governance, it highlights current challenges for a Social Europe and proposes new avenues for tackling these issues.

The European Union (EU) is often portrayed as sacrificing national diversity for European unity. This book explores the alternative of a flexible EU based on differentiated rather than uniform integration. The authors combine normative theory with empirical research on political party actors to assess the desirability and political acceptability of differentiated integration as a means of accommodating heterogeneity in the EU. They examine the circumstances and institutional design needed for flexibility to promote rather than undermine fairness and democracy within and between member states. Clear, balanced, and accessible, the book provides fresh thinking on the future of the EU.

This last decade has been particularly turbulent for the EU. Beset by crises - the financial crisis, the rule of law crisis, the migration crisis, Brexit, and the pandemic - European Law has had to adapt and change in a way not previously seen. First published in 1999, the goal then was to reflect on the important developments that had been made since the creation of the EEC. That goal has not changed. From EU Administrative Law through to the Regulation of Network Industries, each chapter in this seminal work assess the legal and political forces that have shaped the evolution of EU law. With new chapters covering the Rule of Law, Judicial Reform, Brexit, Constitutional and Legal Theory, Refugee and Asylum law, and Data Governance, this third edition of The Evolution of EU Law is a must read for any student or academic of EU law.

This illuminating Research Handbook offers a detailed overview and critical discussion of the key themes and perspectives that characterize the burgeoning research area of transnational environmental law. Varied perspectives from leading and emerging scholars are brought together to deliver methodological and conceptual frameworks for future research, whilst providing an original view on this emerging field of law.