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Judging European Democracy: The Role and Legitimacy of National Constitutional Courts in the EU

Judging European Democracy: The Role and Legitimacy of National Constitutional Courts in the EU

Author: Nik de Boer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780192845238
Published In: August 2023
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

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In several EU Member States, constitutional courts have reviewed European law on its compatibility with national constitutional law. These judgments deal with issues of major importance such as EU democratic legitimacy, the protection of fundamental rights, and the status of national sovereignty within the EU. Yet should national courts decide such issues of key constitutional significance for the EU? Or is it more democratic to leave these matters to political institutions that represent Europe's citizens and are politically accountable to them?

In Judging European Democracy, Nik de Boer argues that the national courts' review of European law can actually constrain democratic debate over the EU's constitutional underpinnings. Rather than opening up a space for discourse or addressing democratic problems with the EU's decision-making process, national courts risk taking sides in good faith political disagreements among elected legislators about constitutional questions relating to the EU, thus distorting, rather than protecting, the democratic decision-making process.

Judging European Democracy uniquely combines constitutional and political theory with an in-depth case study of the German Constitutional Court, the EU's most authoritative constitutional court. Based on an extensive analysis of parliamentary debates, EU policy documents, and interviews with politicians, policymakers, and constitutional court judges, the case study shows how the German Constitutional Court has distorted political debate and democracy in the EU. Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers involved in political theory, political science, EU constitutional law, and European integration will find this book compelling.

1:Introduction

2:Judicial review and democratic legitimacy

3:National constitutional courts' review of European law and its democratic legitimacy

4:The rise of judicial Euroscepticism: Maastricht

5:The euro crisis and the judicialisation of euro-politics

6:Court-ordered parliamentary oversight and the euro crisis

7:Conclusion

Table of Legislation

Table of Cases

Bibliography

List of Interviews

Index