The European Union Law - Essay Example

European Law Introduction: The European law is the set of rules and regulations that is formulated by European Union member countries for applying intheir own territories. These laws take precedence over national laws and are binding on national authorities as well. The main objective of the European Union is to integrate progressively the economic and political systems of its member states. For achieving this member states cede part of their sovereignty under the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. This empowers the Union to adopt laws. To look after the effective implementation of the European law, the Secretary General helps the commission to manage the works involved in this law. Task 1 The European Union law is a set of treaties, law and court judgments. These operate alongside the legal systems of the member states of the European Union. It has a direct effect among within the member states of the European Union. When conflicts occur this law takes precedence over national laws. The primary source of the European law is the European Union treaties. These treaties are set on broad policy goals and establish institutions that can enact various types of legislations in order to achieve these goals. There are two types of legislative acts of the European Union, they are regulations and directives. Regulations become law when they come into force in member countries. They do not require any implementing measures and automatically overrides conflicting domestic provisions. The directives of the European Union require member states to achieve a certain result. Meanwhile it is left to the member countries how they are to be implemented. All the European Union legislations derive from the decisions that are taken at the European Union level. But the implementation largely occurs on the national level. Therefore the principle of uniformity is one of the central themes in the decisions made by the European court of justice. This court aims to ensure that the application and interpretation of the European Union laws does not differ between the member states (Application of EU law. 2010). The general principle of the law is found in almost every legal systems of Europe. Moreover the European court of justice has induced them into the legal orders to supplement all the written sources of the law and the treaties that are used as an aid for interpretation. The main principles of this law are protection of fundamental rights of citizens, principle of equality and discrimination, right of defense, principle of legal certainty, principle of non retro activity etc (General Principles of European Law. 2010). The sovereignty issue in the European law is a serious challenge to legal theories. It has to be noted that the supremacy of the law should not be regarded as imposing a strict hierarchy within the monistic legal system. A pluralistic as well as interactive analysis of the relations between the member countries legal systems and the common systems of the European law suggests that the highest court within each system should retain the interpretative competence. As per the pluralist legal theory, sovereignty has not passed on to the organs of the European Union; the same analysis also confirms that sovereignty has not remained with individual member states. The member states no doubt enjoy a kind of residual sovereignty among the union (McCormick. 1995). The implementation of the European law is in the hands of the European commission. The commission takes steps based on sound general principles like quality, openness, and effectiveness for implementation of the law in member states. The commission has the right and power to bring infringement proceedings against the member states under article 258 and 260. The main aim of such proceedings is not to bring or drag a member to the court of justice but to bring them back to the line of the European law. The power of the commission to implement the law is reinforced to the extent that it is in principle that is conferred with the implementing powers. However the commission may still adopt implementing acts in the area of specific cases that is duly justified. All the provisions regarding signature, publication and entry into force of the unions act are identical to those of the EU treaty (article 1-38) (Commission takes further steps against Austria, Greece, Ireland and Luxembourg.2010). The commission also takes necessary steps to integrate the laws among member countries. For this, the commission maintains a high degree of in- house expertise. The commission calls upon external specialists in different fields to provide advice since the area of expertise is quite wide, technical and highly specialized. All these acts are done on the basis that the EU policies should have a sound knowledge base. For the success of integration, the commission has set up a set of guidelines to help it in achieving the objectives related to integration and coordination. The principles and guidelines are not legally binding nor do they apply to the formal stages of decision making process (Expertise. (2010). Task 2 The concept of the term “Worker” is defined in the European regulations as all persons engaged in economic activity and not only employees with a contract of employment. Moreover the 1989 directive of a worker given by the Directive of health and safety says that worker is any person employed by the employer and includes trainees and apprentices but excluding domestic servants. The limited definition of an employee given in the European Union was quite inadequate for achieving wider policy goals. Therefore the European court of justice has decided that the worker was a community concept (Worker.2007). The fundamental principle developed by the European court is that men and women are treated equally. This principle is supported by the treaties. The court has also outlawed certain legislations of member countries that allow special privileges for women. Article 2 TEU of the Lisbon treaty has equality as a value of the European Union. The principle of equality is laid down in Articles 2,3TEU and Article 8 TFEU. The treaties further prohibit any type of discrimination on the grounds of nationality according to Article 18TFEU. The requirement for the equal treatment of women and men as regard to salaries, pensions and work conditions is based on Article 157TFEU (Equal treatment. 2010). In the year 1961, the council of Europe drafted the European social charter. The proclamation of this charter is regarded as the acknowledgement by the members of the union about the importance of workers fundamental rights. In 1989, the member states decided to create a social Europe with fundamental social rights protecting workers uniformly and binding the rule makers. The main function of this charter is to make the politicians and social actors believe that there should be an effective base for protection for workers in the union. This chapter was supplemented through the Nice summit in 2000 which adopted many fundamental rights associated with workers. The main aspect of the Nice charter was the adoption of the right to freedom of movement of workers as the central right. Other rights are right to equitable working conditions, social protection, right to vocational training, equal treatment of men and women, equality of opportunity, right to information and consultation, health protection and last but not the least protection to elderly persons. The Nice charter incorporates the rights of the workers into six chapters and is not treated separately. The objective of the European Union is to guarantee free movement of trade, workers and capital. Therefore it is the prime responsibility of the European commission to ensure that workers rights are not hampered with the free movement. Workers have the right to move from one member country to another. The worker has the right to work and be employed under the same conditions as the nationals of that particular state. Moreover these rights have been granted to the family members of the workers also. These family members derive their rights from the main holder (Moreau. 2004). Conclusions; European Union was formed with the objective of creating a unified Europe. Breaking all the barriers and unifying all the legal systems was the primary objective of the Unioin to create a new European law for all memebr states. Implementation and coordination of the laws proved to be a major task for the European commission entrusted in that duty. The greatest challenged that was faced by the Commission was the cancellation of the respective national laws prevailing in member states when the common European law was enforced. Hailed as one of the greatest in laws, the European community law was a landmark in the legal history when it was implemented. Principles like subsidiarity, proportionality, principle of conferral, and principle of legal certainty have become prominent pillars in the development of European Union law. European law has been succesful in many areas particularly in areas of citizens’ rights and equalities. The European court of justice established for the upliftment of the law is considered as a towering figure in the history of its implementation and safeguards. Introduction and implementation of the European law has given tremendous boost to many member states that were on the backfoot before. Reference: Application of EU law. (2010). Retrieved December 3, 2010 from http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/introduction/welcome_en.htm Commission takes further steps against Austria, Greece, Ireland and Luxembourg.(2010). Retrieved December 3, 2010 fromhttp://www.eulib.com/commission-takes-further-steps-against-austria-9088 Expertise. (2010). Retrieved December 3, 2010 fromhttp://ec.europa.eu/governance/better_regulation/expertise_en.htm Equal treatment. (2010). Retrieved December 3, 2010 from http://en.euabc.com/word/340 General Principles of European Law. (2010). Retrieved December 3, 2010 from http://www.rechtsanwalt-louis.de/general_principles_of_european_law.htm Moreau.M.N. Fundamental social rights and workers in the European Union.2004) Retrieved December 3, 2010 from http://www.crimt.org/English/PDF/Afriquedusud.pdf MacCormic.N. The Maastricht-Urteil: Sovereignty. (1995). Retrieved December 3, 2010 fromhttp://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic162929.files/C_Europes_Legal_Political_Institutions/c_reading_maccormick.pdf Worker. (2007). Retrieved December 3, 2010 from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/industrialrelations/dictionary/definitions/worker.htm Read More