Book Review: Federico Fabbrini, Brexit and the Future of the European Union

Book Review of Federico Fabbrini, Brexit and the Future of the European Union, Oxford University Press, 2020, 160 pp, ISBN: 9780198871262.

A European Defining Moment: The ‘Ever Closer Union’ in the Aftermath of Brexit

*Michele Corgatelli 

Five years after the end of World War II, French statesman Robert Schuman proposed a Franco-German cooperation in the coal and steel industry aimed at making future conflicts between the two countries ‘not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible’.[1] On such foundations, Europe was envisioned as a dynamic process of integration: ‘(it) will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan’, the Schuman Declaration states; ‘It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity’.[2]

The strive towards an ‘ever closer union’ [3] represents therefore a purpose, a goal, and even a promise. However, the fact that Europe was not meant to be built in a day can determine a state of permanent institutional restlessness, especially when the integration path cyclically stalls, or shows its weaknesses. In this sense, it has been argued that the United Kingdom’s departure (‘Brexit’) caused a ‘Machiavellian moment’, forcing the Union to face its own temporal finitude, proving that the project could eventually fail and fall apart.[4] Unquestionably, Brexit tests once again the willingness to take the project a step further after a considerable jolt to the European institutional architecture.

In his recent book ‘Brexit and the Future of the European Union’, Federico Fabbrini proposes a multi-facet analysis of this disruptive event through normative and historical lens, thus reconstructing its concise and clear record, from which to draw, through easy consultation, the sequence of facts that overlapped in the past years. Moreover, his inquiry conveys the dynamic dimension of the integration process, separately considering the Union ‘during’, ‘because of’, ‘besides’, ‘after’, and ‘beyond’ Brexit.

The book starts by outlining the remarkable synergy among European institutions and unity among other member States that emerged during the withdrawal negotiations (p. 9). However, the challenges posed by the ‘transitional’ implications of Brexit, for example the re-equilibrium of the balance of powers within European institutions (p. 36) add up to a series of past and present crises that have shaken the Union, namely the Euro-crisis, the migration crisis, the rule of law crisis, climate change, the enlargement to new members, and coronavirus (pp. 61-75).

The first chapters, through a logical progression, functionally lead to the dissertation of the post-Brexit future, where Fabbrini shows that the real paralysing obstacle to a further European integration is represented by the unanimity requirement for the amendment of the treaties (p. 95).

The incoming Conference on the Future of Europe could carry the transformative power of the Messina Conference of 1955 (p. 119) which broke through a paralyzed European project leading to the establishment of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (pp. 119-121) but could also fail like other previous attempts (pp. 121-123). Fabbrini proposes a solution to overcome the fossilization of the treaties: the draft of a new one, the ‘Political Compact’, submitted to a different ratification rule – not the unanimity, but a super-majority of for example three-quarters of the EU Member States (pp. 110, 124-129). [5] Moreover, ‘the treaty would not apply to the non-ratifying states, guaranteeing them the free choice of whether or not to join the Political Compact, with all the consequences that follow’ (p. 125).

Although the negotiation for further integration will certainly be easier without a champion of opt-outs halting it, [6] it is worth recalling that the European Constitution was turned down in 2005 by voters in France and the Netherland, while Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Nice in 2001 and the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007 (p. 98) proving that veto is an obstacle to future progresses even after Brexit.

The Author’s choice to recall the American precedent of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which reinterpreted its mandate to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation and drafted the Constitution instead (pp. 127-128), is particularly significant. Indeed, that precise historical outcome has been considered one of the very few ‘constitutional moments’, a concept ‘distinguished by lasting constitutional arrangements that result from specific, emotionally shared responses to shared fundamental political experiences’.[7]

The American example, whose historical scope and value were not vitiated by the presence of a super-majority ratification mechanism, proves that unanimity is not necessary to lay the foundation of a lasting constitutional architecture. The existential threat to the European Union posed by Brexit, and the coronavirus crisis, could in fact play the role of one of those unique path-dependent moments. Fabbrini’s proposal of a ‘Political Compact’ provides a remedy to the block represented by the unanimity rule, that prevents the Union to effectively utilize this moment and to progress towards an ‘ever closer union’, although merely concentrical.[8]

If the Schuman Declaration of 1950 successfully led to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, the other proposed area of European cooperation, namely the one in military and defence, was rejected by the French Assemblée Nationale, that voted down the European Defence Community in 1954 (pp. 119-120). After a momentary paralysis, the transformative power of the Messina Conference, a year later, founded the modern Europe (pp. 119-121).

After Brexit, a big halting force to integration is no longer part of the Union; [9] the Conference on the Future of Europe, striving on a renewed Franco-German cooperation, could in fact turn out to be a defining moment, if the right normative solutions – such as the ‘Political Compact’ proposed by Fabbrini – are taken to overcome the current European architectural rigidity caused by the unanimity impasse.

To conclude, ‘Brexit and the Future of the European Union’ stand out for clarity: it combines a holistic approach to a complex event, with a concise writing, devoid of unnecessary socio-political mannerisms. At the same time, the objective analysis is not an aseptic reconstruction of Brexit’s implications, being constantly integrated with original systematic reconstructions.[10]  Most importantly, the analysis flows from a problem, namely the obstacles to reform, to a proposed solution, making the book not only academically original, but socially useful as well.

*Michele Corgatelli, LLM by Research Candidate, University of Glasgow.

————————————————————-

[1] Schuman Declaration (9 May 1950, whose recurrence is named ‘Europe Day’). Robert Schuman, who during the War escaped deportation to the Dachau concentration camp, was given the title of ‘Father of Europe’ after he left the office of first President of what is now the European Parliament. For the contribute of Jean Monnet to the Declaration, see Michael Burgess, ‘Entering the Path of Transformation in Europe: The Federal Legacy of the Schuman Declaration’ (2011) 29(2) Fr. Politics Cult. Soc. 4.

[2] ibid.

[3] Solemn Declaration on European Union (Stuttgart, 19 June 1983).

[4] Luuk van Middelaar, ‘Brexit as the European Union’s “Machiavellian Moment”’ (2018) 55 CML Rev. 3, 5.

[5] Fabbrini championed the ‘Political Compact’ in his previous study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs (‘Possible Avenues for Further Political Integration in Europe – A Political Compact for a More Democratic and Effective Union?’), available at: <https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/it/document.html?reference=IPOL_STU%282020%29651849>.

[6] The other champion of opt-outs is Denmark. Rebecca Adler-Nissen, ‘Behind the scenes of differentiated integration: circumventing national opt-outs in Justice and Home Affairs’ (2009) 16(1) JEPP 62, 63.

[7] ‘The overwhelming majority of the constitutions that we know do not have these specifics. Constitutions serve other, more technical, goals (…). One of the drawbacks of a constitution that emerges without the blessing of a constitutional moment is that it does not contribute to a sense of union, or to the formation of identity, among members of the society to which it applies’. András Sajó, ‘Constitution without the constitutional moment: A view from the new member states’ (2005) 3(2-3) ICON 243, 243.

[8] The post-Brexit attraction to the ‘variable geometry’ model of European integration is indeed a peculiar phenomenon, that could come from two sources: ‘According to one view, the distrust of the EU expressed by the majority of British voters reflects similar feelings in other parts of the European Union, and this implies that the Union should evolve into a less centralized and more flexible organization so as to assuage the growing mass of Eurosceptic citizens across Europe. Another explanation might be that the UK’s defection may act as an incentive for some other countries to advance the integration project more vigorously.’ Bruno De Witte, ‘The future of variable geometry in a post-Brexit European Union’ (2017) 24(2) MJECL 153, 155-156.

[9] ibid, 154.

[10] For instance, the Author detects three competing visions of European integration: ‘polity, which requires solidarity and a communion of efforts towards a shared destiny; (…) market, designed to enhance wealth through commerce, but with as limited redistribution as possible; (…) [autocracy,] which instead sees the EU as a vehicle to entrench state authoritarian rule, based on national identity and sovereignty claims, but with crucial transnational financial support.’ (60, 75-80).

NEW PUBLICATIONS IN THE FIELD OF EU LAW

The editors of the KSLR EU Law Blog are pleased to announce recent publications in the field of EU law, with a discount attached for our readers.

 

EU Soft Law in the Member States

Theoretical Findings and Empirical Evidence

Edited by Mariolina Eliantonio, Emilia Korkea-aho and Oana Stefan

This volume analyses, for the first time in European studies, the impact that non-legally binding material (otherwise known as soft law) has on national courts and administration.

The study is founded on empirical work undertaken by the European Network of Soft Law Research (SoLaR), across ten EU Member States, in competition policy, financial regulation, environmental protection and social policy. The book demonstrates that soft law is taken into consideration at the national level and it clarifies the extent to which soft law can have legal and practical effects for individuals and national authorities.

The national case studies highlight the points of convergence or divergence in the way in which judges and administrators approach soft law, while reflecting on the reasons for and consequences of various national practices.

A series of horizontal studies connect this research to the rich literature on new modes of governance, by revisiting traditional theories on soft law, and by reflecting on the potential of such instruments to undermine or to foster rule of law values.

Mariolina Eliantonio is Professor at the University of Maastricht.

Emilia Korkea-aho is Associate Professor at the University of Eastern Finland Law School.

Oana Stefan is Reader in Law at King’s College, London.

Mar 2021   |   9781509932030   |   496pp   |   Hbk   |    RSP: £75

Discount Price: £60. Order online at www.hartpublishing.co.uk – use the code UG7 at the checkout to get 20% off your order!

 

Standing to Enforce European Union Law before National Courts

Hilde Ellingsen

The right to access to court is long recognised as an essential element of a Union based on the rule of law. This book asks how can member states insure that their individual rules on standing guarantee that right? The book answers the question by analysing EU law’s requirements from two angles: first, the effective protection of Union rights; second, the effectiveness of Union law per se. With inductive case law examination, it formulates an autonomous Union law doctrine of standing. The book then goes further, setting out an effectiveness test of member states’ enforcement mechanism, preventing practical impediments to the right to access to court. This is a rigorous study on a question of immense importance.

Hilde Ellingsen is Senior Lecturer at the University of Olso.

Apr 2021   |   9781509937141   |   384pp   |   Hbk   |    RSP: £90

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The External Dimension of the EU’s Policy against Trafficking in Human Beings

Chloé Brière

This book explores the external dimension of the ambitious EU policy on human trafficking. Through this policy the EU institutions and Member States promote the eradication of human trafficking and support, to that end, cooperation with their partners, being third States or international organisations.

Analysing the unilateral and multilateral mechanisms the EU uses to achieve these aims, the book questions whether the EU’s external response to human trafficking addresses it in all its dimensions, and whether it does so in a coherent way. As a case study, the book explores the cooperation of the EU with countries of the Western Balkans, which constitutes a specific unilateral mechanism. The analysis of the multilateral mechanisms covers the cooperation of the EU with key international and regional organisations combating human trafficking, including but not limited to the Council of Europe or the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The book also examines the impact of the evolution of migration flows and the increasing reliance of military tools on the EU’s response to human trafficking.

Chloé Brière is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow funded by the Belgian National Research Fund (FNRS) and a professor of EU law at the Centre for European Law of the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Apr 2021   |   9781509932825   |   328pp   |   Hbk   |    RSP: £85

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Countering Tax Crime in the European Union

Benchmarking the OECD’s Ten Global Principles

Umut Turksen

This book seeks durable solutions for tax crime and is a great resource for the development of knowledge, policy and law on tax crime. The book uniquely blends current practice with new approaches to countering tax crime. With insights from the EU-funded project, PROTAX, which conducts advanced research on tax crimes, the book comparatively analyses the EU’s tax crime measures and the Ten Global Principles (TGPs) on fighting tax crime by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The study critically examines how the TGPs can serve as minimum standards for the EU to counter tax crime such as tax evasion and tax fraud. The study also analyses how the anti-tax avoidance package can be graduated to fight tax crime in the EU. When escalated, the strengths of the EU tax crime measures and TGPs can form a fortress in which criminal law can be empowered to mitigate tax crimes with greater effect.

The book will be particularly useful for end-user stakeholders such as tax policy makers, LEAs, professional enablers as well as academics and students interested in productive interaction between tax, criminal and administrative laws.

Umut Turksen is Professor of Law at the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity, Coventry University, UK.

Mar 2021   |   9781509937950   |   336pp   |   Hbk   |    RSP: £75

Discount Price: £60. Order online at www.hartpublishing.co.uk – use the code UG7 at the checkout to get 20% off your order!

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN THE FIELD OF EU LAW

 

The editors of the KSLR EU Law Blog are pleased to announce recent publications in the field of EU law with a special discount for our readers.

 

 

The Transformation of Economic Law

Essays in Honour of Hans-W. Micklitz

Edited by Lucila de Almeida, Marta Cantero Gamito, Mateja Durovic and Kai Peter Purnhagen

 

This book is written in honour of Hans-W. Micklitz for his jubilee 70th birthday and the closure of his twelve-year term as the Chair for Economic Law at the European University Institute (EUI). Hans-W. Micklitz has gained international recognition for dedicating his extensive and fruitful career to diverse areas of law: European Economic Law, European Private Law, National and European Consumer Law, Legal Theory, theories of Private Law and Social Justice. This book is a product of the collaborative endeavors of its contributors, who all have a special connection with Hans W. Micklitz as his doctoral supervisees or research assistants. The collection of twenty chapters is to be read as the influence of Hans’s dialogues in the early stage of the academic career of thirty-one young legal scholars. The volume is divided into three sections devoted to subjects that have received Hans’s attention while at the EUI: EU Consumer Law (part I); European Private Law and Access Justice (part II); the CJEU between the individual citizen and the Member States (part III).

 

Lucila de Almeida is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki, and Research Fellow at the Florence School of Regulation, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute.

Marta Cantero Gamito is Assistant Professor of Law at CUNEF (Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros, Madrid) and part-time Associate Professor in IT Law at the University of Tartu.

Mateja Durovic is Lecturer in Contract and Commercial Law at Dickson Poon School of Law of King’s College London.

Kai Peter Purnhagen is Associate Professor in Law at Wageningen University.

 

September 2019   |   9781509932580   |   432pp   |   Hardback   |    RSP: £95

Discount Price: £76

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Constitutional Law of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy

Competence and Institutions in External Relations

Graham Butler

 

The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union is a highly exceptional component of the EU legal order. This constitutionalised foreign policy regime, with legal, diplomatic, and political DNA woven throughout its fabric, is a distinct sub-system of law on the outermost sphere of European supranationalism. When contrasted against other Union policies, it is immediately clear that EU foreign policy has a special decision-making mechanism, making it highly exceptional.

 

In the now depillarised framework of the EU treaties, issues of institutional division arise from the legacy of the former pillar system. This is due to the reality that of prime concern in EU external relations is the question of ‘who decides?’ By engaging a number of legal themes that cut across foreign affairs exceptionalism, executive prerogatives, parliamentary accountability, judicial review, and the constitutionalisation of European integration, the book lays bare how EU foreign affairs have become highly legalised, leading to ever-greater coherence in how Europe exerts itself on the global stage.

 

In this first monograph dedicated exclusively to the law of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy in modern times, the author argues that the legal framework for EU foreign affairs must adapt in a changing world so as to ensure the EU treaties can cater for a more assertive Europe in the wider world.

 

Graham Butler is Associate Professor of Law at Aarhus University, Denmark.

 

Oct 2019   |   9781509925940   |   376pp   |   Hardback   |    RSP: £80

Discount Price: £64

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Critical Reflections on Constitutional Democracy in the European Union

Edited by Sacha Garben, Inge Govaere and Paul Nemitz

 

This book takes a wide-ranging approach to tackle the complex question of the current state of constitutional democracy in the EU. It brings together a broad set of academics and practitioners with legal and political perspectives to focus on both topical and perennial issues concerning constitutional democracy (including safeguarding the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights) in theory and practice, primarily at EU level but also with due regard to national and global developments. This approach underlines that rather than a single problématique to be analysed and resolved, we are presently facing a kaleidoscopic spectrum of related challenges that influence each other in elusive, multifaceted ways. Critical Reflections on Constitutional Democracy in the European Union offers a rich analysis of the issues as well as concrete policy recommendations, which will appeal to scholars and practitioners, students and interested citizens alike. It provides a meaningful contribution to the array of existing scholarship and debate by proposing original elements of analysis, challenging often-made assumptions, destabilising settled understandings and proposing fundamental reforms. Overall, the collection injects a set of fresh critical perspectives on this fundamental issue that is as contemporary as it is eternal.

 

Sacha Garben is Professor of EU Law at the College of Europe.

Inge Govaere is Professor of European Law, Jean Monnet Chair in EU Legal Studies at Ghent University and Director, Ghent European Law Institute (GELI) as well as Director of the European Legal Studies Department at the College of Europe.

Paul Nemitz is Principal Adviser at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. He teaches EU Law as a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges.

 

Oct 2019   |   9781509933259   |   448pp   |   Hardback   |    RSP: £85

Discount Price: £68

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A Practitioner’s Guide to European Patent Law

For National Practice and the Unified Patent Court

Paul England

 

Written by a team of lawyers with long-standing experience in patent litigation in Europe, this book is a comprehensive and practical guide to European patent law, highlighting the areas of consistency and difference between the most influential European patent law jurisdictions: the European Patent Office (EPO), England & Wales, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

 

It is frequently the case that the decisions and approaches of these courts are cited by European patent lawyers of all jurisdictions when submitting arguments in their own national courts. The book is therefore intended to provide a guide to patent lawyers acting in the national European courts today. The book also looks to the future, by addressing all the areas of patent law for which the proposed Unified Patent Court (UPC) will need to establish a common approach.

 

Uniquely, the book addresses European patent law by subject matter area, assessing the key national and EPO approaches together rather than in nation-by-nation chapters; and provides an outline in each chapter of the common ground between the national approaches, as a guide for the possible application of European patent law in the UPC.

 

Paul England is a solicitor at Taylor Wessing, London.

 

Oct 2019   |   9781509928606   |   552pp   |   Hardback   |    RSP: £110

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New Economic Constitutionalism in Europe

George Gerapetritis

 

New Economic Constitutionalism in Europe focuses on the institutional mutation of constitutionalism following the major economic crisis in the Eurozone and globally. The main axis is that a new economic constitutionalism has arisen which trespasses on the conventional conceptual foundations and needs to be addressed with novel institutional vehicles. The author proposes an original and searching analysis of the significant constitutional evolutions that have taken place in member states in response to the global financial crisis. The book combines a sophisticated theoretical model of a new form of economic constitutionalism with detailed practical argumentation. This important new work provides a valuable addition to the understanding of this hugely important topic.

 

George Gerapetritis is Professor of Constitutional Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

 

Oct 2019   |   9781509909629   |   384pp   |   Hardback   |    RSP: £85

Discount Price: £68

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