A crisis of democratic legitimacy in Europe and new European unity in the light of constitutional law

Available in Russian

Price 100 Rub.

Author: Vasily Zagretdinov

DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2020-4-14-35

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; European Central Bank; European integration; Federal Constitutional Court

Abstract

The article aims to study the constitutional aspects of further European integration in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious challenge for the new European Parliament and the new College of the European Commission. After a controversial first 100 days in power, Ursula von der Leyen’s team faced the necessity to strengthen its leadership but also to come closer to implementing its election promise of economic and societal transformation within the European Union. This transformation includes internal structural reform. Second, the pandemic has exacerbated a key contradiction within the EU’s legal structure – the conflict between the sovereignty of member states and the powers of the EU institutions. The author examines this contradiction through the prism of philosophical debates on the nature and future of a single European state. In this regard, the article compares approaches to the possible constitutional structure of a single European political entity. Third, the author argues that the recent decision of the Federal constitutional court of Germany aggravated the political and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court attacked the legality of the European Central Bank Programme aimed at supporting the economy of the Eurozone countries. Although not formally related to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision of the Court jeopardized further EU pandemic response policy and, thus, prompted the adoption of unprecedented measures to stimulate economic growth in the region. It is expected that the national debt of the member states should be distributed at the level of the European Commission, which in itself marks a move towards further integration. Fourth, the decision of the Federal constitutional court is worth considering for other reasons. The Court went into an open confrontation with the European Court of Justice. In fact, the national court of a member state of the European Union acted as an arbitrator setting the limits of the supranational bodies’ competences. In addition, the judges of the Federal constitutional court subsequently became active in the political sphere. In a series of interviews with the German press following the decision, the President of the Court criticized the “liberal elites” who ignore the interests of “normal people”, thus using the German court itself as a platform for correcting the course of further European integration.

About the author: Vasily Zagretdinov – Ph.D. Student, Faculty of Law, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Zagretdinov V. (2020) Krizis legitimnosti evropeyskikh gosudarstvennykh institutov i novoe evropeyskoe edinstvo: konstitutsionno-pravovoy aspect [A crisis of democratic legitimacy in Europe and new European unity in the light of constitutional law]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.29, no.4, pp.14–35. (In Russian).

References

Acheson D. (1969) Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department, New York: W.W.Norton & Company.

Astengo F. (2012) Karlsruhe-Luxembourg: A New Distance after the 2009 Lisbon Treaty Ruling. Revue Québécoise de droit international, vol.25, no.1, pp.155–173.

Bazhan A.I., Gusev K.N. (2016) Evropeyskiy tsentral'nyy bank v usloviyakh finansovogo krizisa [The European Central Bank in the context of the financial crisis]. Sovremennaya Evropa, vol.3, no.69, pp.93–103. (In Russian).

Blinder A. (1997) Is Government Too Political? Foreign Affairs, vol.76, no.6, pp.115–126.

Boerger A., Rasmussen M. (2014) Transforming European Law: The Establishment of the Constitutional Discourse from 1950 to 1993. European Constitutional Law Review, vol.10, no.2, pp.199–225.

Boerger A., Rasmussen M. (2017) The Making of European Law: Exploring the Life and Work of Michel Gaudet. American Journal of Legal History, vol.57, no.1, pp.51–82.

Bulmer S., Jeffery C., Paterson W. (2000) Germany’s European Diplomacy: Shaping the Regional Milieu, Issues in German Politics, Manchester, UK; New York: Manchester University Press.

Corbett A. (2005) Universities and the Europe of Knowledge: Ideas, Institutions and Policy Entrepreneurship in European Union Higher Education Policy, 1955–2005, Basingstoke, Hampshire; London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Crouch C. (2000) Coping with Post-Democracy, London: Fabian Society.

Crouch C. (2004) Post-Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Davies B. (2012) Resisting the European Court of Justice: West Germany’s Confrontation with European Law, 1949–1979, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

De la Baume M., Moens B., von der Burchard H., Roberts H. (2020) Europe’s Far Right Knows How to Waste a Good Crisis. Politico, 26 April. Available at: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/26/europe-far-right-coronavirus-crisis-210542 (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Deters H. (2014) National Constitutional Jurisprudence in a Post-National Europe: The ESM Ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court and the Disavowal of Conflict. European Law Journal, vol.20, no.2, pp.204–218.

Detjen S., Steinbeis M. (2019) Die Zauberlehrlinge: Der Streit um die Flüchtlingspolitik und der Mythos vom Rechtsbruch, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta Verlag.

Di Lorenzo G., Wefing H. (2020) Erfolg ist eher kalt. Zeit Online, 13 May. Available at: https://www.zeit.de/2020/21/andreas-vosskuhle-ezb-anleihenkaeufe-corona-krise (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Disegni S. (2020) “The Answer to Emergency is Politics from Below”. A Talk with Jonathan White. Available at: https://www.resetdoc.org/story/answer-emergency-politics-talk-jonathan-white/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Eder F. (2020) Politico Brussels Playbook: Juncker Speaks – Old Vices Returning – The C Word. Politico, 13 April. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/politico-brussels-playbook-juncker-speaks-old-vices-returning-the-c-word/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Ehnts D. (2020) Europa als Haftungsunion – Europa scheitert an deutschen “Juristen”. Verfassungsblog, 18 April. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/europa-als-haftungsunion-europa-scheitert-an-deutschen-juristen/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Enroth H. (2014) Governance: The Art of Governing after Governmentality. European Journal of Social Theory, vol.17, no.1, pp.60–76.

Espinoza J. (2020) European Commission Warns Member States On Mask Export Ban. Financial Times, 6 March. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/1bbdfbd0-5fbe-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4 (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Follorou J. (2020) Espionnage: les ombres chinoises de l’ambassade de Malte à Bruxelles. Le Monde, 15 May. Available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/05/15/les-ombres-chinoises-de-l-ambassade-de-malte-a-bruxelles_6039710_3210.html (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Feeley M. (2020) Review of “Ministers of Justice in Comparative Perspective” (Piotr Mikuli, Natalie Fox, and Radosław Puchta, eds.). International Journal of Constitutional Law, 6 June. Available at: http://www.iconnectblog.com/2020/06/book-review-malcolm-feeley-on-ministers-of-justice-in-comparative-perspective-piotr-mikuli-natalie-fox-and-radoslaw-puchta-eds/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Gigante C. (2011) “Fatta l’Italia, facciamo gli Italiani”. Appunti su una massima da restituire a d’Azeglio. Incontri: Rivista europea di studi italiani, vol.26, no.2, pp.5–15.

Giugliano F. (2020) After the Virus, Can the EU Seize Its “Hamilton Moment”? BloombergQuint, 20 April. Available at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/after-the-coronavirus-can-the-eu-seize-its-hamilton-moment (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Glendinning S. (2012) A European Federation of States Is the Only Form of Integration Which Has the Chance to Preserve Freedom and Survive Shifting Power Relations between Sovereign Nations. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2012/07/11/european-integration-kant-philosophical-triangle/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Glendinning S. (2013) Europe Should Reject Jürgen Habermas’ Vision of a Federal European State and Instead Create an Enduring Association between Sovereign Nations. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/72424/1/blogs.lse.ac.uk-Europe%20should%20reject%20J%C3%BCrgen%20Habermas%20vision%20of%20a%20federal%20European%20state%20and%20instead%20create%20an%20endurin.pdf (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Gnauck G. (2020) Polens Regierungschef: “Wir sollten uns gerade jetzt vor einer Spaltung Europas hüten”. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 25 May. Available at: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/polens-regierungschef-ueber-eu-zusammenhalt-16785598.html (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Haass R. (2020) The Pandemic Will Accelerate History Rather Than Reshape It. Foreign Affairs, 7 April. Available at: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-04-07/pandemic-will-accelerate-history-rather-reshape-it (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Habermas J. (2013) Democracy, Solidarity and the European Crisis. Roadmap to a Social Europe, vol.4, pp.4–13.

Habermas J. (2006) The Divided West, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Herszenhorn D. (2020) EU Leaders Back Budget Reboot for Coronavirus Recovery. Politico, 24 April. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-back-budget-reboot-for-coronavirus-recovery/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Herszenhorn D., Eder F. (2020) Leaked: The Commission’s Hunt for Leakers. Politico, 14 May. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/commission-leak-eeas-budget-von-der-leyen-merkel/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Herszenhorn D., Eder F., de la Baume M., Barigazzi J. (2020) Ursula von der Leyen’s Disaster Management. Politico, 27 April. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyens-coronavirus-covid19-disaster-management/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Houellebecq M. (2020) En un peu pire. Réponses à quelques amis. Available at: https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/lettres-d-interieur/lettres-d-interieur-04-mai-2020 (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Ignotus (2009) Narod Vostoka [People from the East]. In: Tsesarskaya M. (ed.) Te: Stranitsy odnogo zhurnala. In memoriam Nyugat. 1908–1919 [Te: The pages of a magazine. In memoriam Nyugat. 1908–1919], Moscow: Vodoley Publishers, pp.5–7. (In Russian).

Janisch W., Kornelius S. (2020) EZB-Urteil: Interview mit Richter Peter Michael Huber. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12 May. Available at: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/ezb-urteil-bundesverfassungsgericht-anleihenkaeufe-peter-michael-huber-1.4905311?reduced=true (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Judt T. (2011) A Grand Illusion?: An Essay on Europe, New York: New York University Press.

Kant I. (1970) Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. In: Reiss H. (ed.) Kant’s Politics Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.93–130.

Kant I. (1784) Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose. The Cosmopolitanism Reader, pp.17–26.

Kant I. (2019) K vechnomu miru [Perpetual Peace], Moscow: RIPOL Klassik. (In Russian).

Kayali L. (2020) European Commission Vice President Backs Twitter in Trump Battle. Politico, 1 June. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-vp-backs-twitter-in-trump-battle/?utm_source=POLITICO.EU&utm_campaign=e54f83e572-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_06_02_05_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10959edeb5-e54f83e572-189786553 (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Krastev I. (2020) Zavtra uzhe nastupilo? [Is tomorrow already here?]. Rossiya v global'noy politike, 13 May. Available at: https://globalaffairs.ru/articles/zavtra-nastupilo/ (accessed: 24.07.2020). (In Russian).

Lang A. (2020) “Keine leichte Kost”: Das BVerfG zwingt die EZB zur Rechenschaft. Verfassungsblog, 6 May. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/keine-leichte-kost/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Mair P. (2006) Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy. New Left Review, no.42, pp.25–51.

Mair P. (2013) Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy, London; New York: Verso Trade.

Meier-Beck P. (2020) Ultra Vires? D’kart, 11 May. Available at: https://www.d-kart.de/en/blog/2020/05/11/ultra-vires/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Michalopoulos S. (2020) EU Parliament President Sidelined in Coronavirus Talks. Available at: https://www.euractiv.com/section/all/short_news/eu-parliament-president-sidelined-in-coronavirus-talks/?utm_source=EURACTIV&utm_campaign=dce38a78aa-The_Capitals_COPY_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c59e2fd7a9-dce38a78aa-116222871 (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Mikuli P., Fox N., Puchta R. (2019) Ministers of Justice in Comparative Perspective, The Hague: Eleven International Publishing.

Moens B., Tanna P. (2020) Macron and Merkel Defy Brussels with Push for Industrial Champions. Politico, 18 May. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-and-merkel-defy-brussels-with-push-for-industrial-champions/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Möller K. (2012) Proportionality: Challenging the Critics. International Journal of Constitutional Law, vol.10, no.3, pp.709–731.

Monnet J. (1978) Memoirs, London: Collins.

Müller R. (2020) Verfassungsrichter Huber im Gespräch: “Das EZB-Urteil war zwingend”. Frankfurter Allgemeine, 12 May. Available at: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/peter-huber-im-gespraech-das-ezb-urteil-war-zwingend-16766682.html (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Nistor L. (2011) Public Services and the European Union: Healthcare, Health Insurance and Education Services, The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press.

Offe C. (2009) Governance: An “Empty Signifier”? Constellations, vol.16, no.4, pp.550–562.

Parau C. (2018) Transnational Networking and Elite Self-Empowerment: The Making of the Judiciary in Contemporary Europe and Beyond, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Posaner J., von der Burchard H. (2020) Back Off, Trump. Germany Wants to Make Europe Strong Again. Politico, 29 May. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-donald-trump-germany-europe-strong-again/?utm_source=POLITICO.EU&utm_campaign=9d88bc140a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_06_01_05_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10959edeb5-9d88bc140a-189786553 (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Rossi E., Spinelli A. (2017) Il manifesto di Ventotene, Torino: Celid.

Ruitenberg R. (2020) France Says Twitter Would Be Welcome If It Decides to Leave U.S. Bloomberg, 31 May. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-31/france-says-twitter-would-be-welcome-if-it-decides-to-leave-u-s?sref=6G2RWwOr (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Sadurski W. (2019) Poland’s Constitutional Breakdown, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Salikov A.N. (2013) Kantovskiy proekt vechnogo mira i proekt Evropeyskogo soyuza [Kantian perpetual peace and the European Union project]. Kantovskiy sbornik, vol.45, no.3, pp.24–31. (In Russian).

Spinelli B. (2020) Evropeyskaya utopiya i nedostatki natsional'nykh pra­vitel'stv [The European utopia and the faults of national governments]. Gefter, 8 December. Available at: http://gefter.ru/archive/13749 (accessed: 24.07.2020). (In Russian).

Steinbeis M. (2020) We Super-Europeans. Verfassungsblog, 8 May. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/we-super-europeans/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

Streeck W. (2011) The Crises of Democratic Capitalism. New Left Review, no.71, pp.5–29.

Troitiño D.R., Kerikmäe Т., Chochia A. (2018) Brexit: History, Reasoning and Perspectives, Cham: Springer.

Vibert F. (2007) The Rise of the Unelected: Democracy and the New Separation of Powers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Walker A., Schaart E. (2020) How Wopke Hoekstra Became Europe’s Bond Villain. Politico, 19 April. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/wopke-hoekstra-netherlands-italy-corona-bonds-fight/ (accessed: 24.07.2020).

White J. (2019) Politics of Last Resort: Governing by Emergency in the European Union, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Žižek S. (2020) Pandemic!: Covid-19 Shakes the World, New York; London: OR Books.