Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Summary Contents
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- List of Cases
- List of Secondary Law
- Table of Equivalents
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: European Constitutional Law
- Part I Constitutional Foundations
- Part II Governmental Powers
- Appendices
- 1 How to Find the EU Treaties
- 2 How to Find (and Read) EU Secondary Law
- 3 How to Find (and Read) EU Court Judgments
- 4 How to Find EU Academic Resources
- Index
1 - How to Find the EU Treaties
from Appendices
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Summary Contents
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- List of Cases
- List of Secondary Law
- Table of Equivalents
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: European Constitutional Law
- Part I Constitutional Foundations
- Part II Governmental Powers
- Appendices
- 1 How to Find the EU Treaties
- 2 How to Find (and Read) EU Secondary Law
- 3 How to Find (and Read) EU Court Judgments
- 4 How to Find EU Academic Resources
- Index
Summary
The EU Treaties constitute the primary law of the Union. The formula ‘the Treaties’ commonly refers to two Treaties: the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. These two Treaties are the result of a long constitutional ‘chain-novel’. Starting out from three – successful – ‘Founding Treaties’, subsequent ‘Amendment Treaties’ and ‘Accession Treaties’ have radically changed the Union's form and substance.
This radical change was to be formally recognised by the 2004 ‘Constitutional Treaty’. The latter tried to ‘refound’ the Union by starting a completely new ‘Treaty’; yet the attempt failed when the Dutch and French referenda rejected the Constitutional Treaty. The Member States thus resorted to yet another amendment treaty: the 2007 Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty nonetheless contributes a radical new ‘chapter’ to the old ‘chain novel’ starting with the Founding Treaties. For it has replaced the old foundations of the ‘Community legal order’ – even if not in form, certainly in substance – with a new ‘Union legal order’. (The only remnant of the old Community legal order is the European Atomic Energy Community – which for some reason was not integrated into the new Union legal order.) One of the new features of the post-Lisbon era is the possibility of treaty amendments instigated by European Council Decisions. In addition to ‘Amendment Treaties’ there are thus henceforth ‘Amendment Decisions’ adopted by the European Council.
The EU Treaties can today be found on the European Union's EUR-Lex website: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties.html, but there are also a number of solid paper copies such my own ‘EU Treaties & Legislation’ collection.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- European Constitutional Law , pp. 473 - 475Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015