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Features

Introduction

After World War II, with the founding of the Council of Europe and the institutions that would later become the European Union, Europe embarked on an uncertain path toward what some intended to be a form of pan-European cooperation in economic and human rights matters and what others desired to be the first step toward a "United States of Europe." The result has been a sweeping transfer of power from national capitols to EU institutions and significant EU regulatory and legal oversight on issues once clearly a matter of exclusive national concern. Along the way, treaty amendments and the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union and European Court of Human Rights have given rise to robust objections from "euro-skeptics," who are insisting that their national governments should "claw back" powers from the entire range of European institutions. This section examines recent developments in this debate, particularly on the subjects of human rights, law and justice, finance and trade, and the democratic impacts of the expanding authority of the European institutions.

Finance & Trade

The asserted need for regulation of the “single market” of the European Union has provided a strong foothold for the centralization of power in the institutions of this supranational body, along with the ever-expanding body of rules and directives that seek to “harmonize” the economic and financial regulation of European Union member states. This focus area examines developments in the EU’s regulation of finance and trade within the bloc, and the backlash by some national governments and other observers to the increasing amount of economic and budgetary decision-making that has been transferred from national capitals to Brussels and Strasbourg.

Documents

Resources

Commentary

Finance & Trade

Business for Britain Calls for U.K. Supremacy on Finance Rules

July 14, 2014

The U.K. organization Business for Britain has published a letter expressing concern regarding EU measures on the financial sector that erode competitiveness and calling for politicians to ensure that Britain's financial sector "is always fundamentally regulated and controlled by the British people."
Opinion Finds EU Exemption from Trading Rules Unlawful

July 11, 2014

An opinion from attorneys of the EU Council finds that an EU provision creating an exemption from legislation prohibiting "proprietary trading" by banks was in fact illegal and could not shield countries with their own laws permitting such trading, such as the U.K., from the EU legislation's effect.
EU Investigates Corporate Tax Deals

June 20, 2014

The European Commission has announced that it has opened an investigation of member states' tax deals with three multinational companies to determine whether these deals violated EU "state aid" rules.
EU Mango Ban Highlights Regulatory Ambition in Brussels

June 20, 2014

Allie Renison of the Institute of Directors writes that the European Commission's recent ban of mango imports from India until December 2015 emphasizes the knee-jerk, disproportionate reaction to trade issues by the EU, which harms trade between member states and countries outside Europe.

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