Effects of the European Union on England and Wales Law

EU AND EFFECTS ON ENGLAND AND WALES’ LAW

Effects of the European Union on England and Wales’ Law

Abstract

The European Union was set up to enhance a peaceful coexistence between the various countries in Europe after the bloody Second World War. It was established to unite the European nations both economically and politically in order to attain lasting peace among the European countries. The European Union wanted to ensure a unified political dispensation among the member states based on democracy as well as a common (internal market) market among the member states. With the internal market, the European Union had foreseen much economical development in the region.

The major source of law of the European Union is its treaties that bind the member states together (Perry, 1995). These power sharing treaties put in place broad policy objectives and set up institutions that can pass legislation in order to achieve these objectives. These policies include the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital. These legislations of the European Union come in two types: regulations and directives. Regulations become law in all member states the moment they come into force and therefore overriding any domestic provisions. Directives on the other hand, require members to achieve a certain result while leaving them the sole role as to how to achieve the result. Directives require implementation into national law by a state’s legislative body before taking effect. Failure to properly implement a directive into national law by a Member State, the directive may give to direct effect provided the date of the final implementation has passed. The European Union Court of Justice deems this as a compulsory measure in order to ensure the effectiveness of directives. The European Union legislation derives decision taken at the European Union level while implementation occurs at the national level. The principle of uniformity is essential in the European Union with the sole purpose of ensuring that the application and the interpretation of the European Union laws do not differ between member states.

The laws that govern the European Union have been part and parcel of the laws that govern the United Kingdom (Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds, 1998). Any legislation on any particular subject provided for by the European Union legislations overrule any existing laws present in any member states and this also includes any acts of parliament in the member states. The founding treaties of the European Union did not clearly elaborate which set of laws (Member State domestic laws or the laws governing the European Union) would precede the other in case a conflict arises, but the Court of Justice of the European Union put this notion to rest when it ruled that the Laws governing the Europe Union supersede any other domestic law of a Member State and that the Member State should enact legislations that are in accordance with the treaties of the European Union . This ruling resulted in recognition that the European Union laws should be applied over any inconsistent national rule and that failure to do so would hinder the European Union from achieving its goals. This therefore, derived the supremacy of the European Union laws and its direct impact on the domestic laws. For instance, if a situation occurs whereby there is a conflict between the European Union law and those of a member state, the European Union laws supersede those of the member state and therefore those of the member states are to be abolished. In this way, the autonomy of the member states’ parliaments is undermined. Various aspects of the United Kingdom laws have been altered to accommodate those of the European Union. This has had an immense impact on the day to day lives of the citizens of the United Kingdom.

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The Autonomy of the British Parliament and the rule of law have been the pillars of the British Constitution. Parliament has been considered as the only supreme body bestowed with the task of making laws whose acts have been the highest source of the British law. It had the ability to legislate, and its decision can never be challenged by any person or organisation. The rule of law ensures that the law is applied to every citizen without bias and that no one should be subjected to any form of punishment unless there is a clear indication that he/ she has violated the law. With the joining of the European Union, the British parliament ceased to possess the full autonomy it once possessed. The once unchallenged acts of the British parliament can now be made irrelevant by a ruling in the European Union courts if it is deemed unfit by the laws and regulations of the European Union.

The loss of autonomy of the British parliament has had a profound effect on her laws. The interpretation and application of the British law is guided by the treaties signed between the European Union Member States. A good example is the way the European Union law on sex discrimination has been interpreted in the larger United Kingdom. Whereas the British law had a different version on how to interpret and apply this law, it is confined to those that the European Union had established (C, 2003). For instance, the European Union advocated for equal rights and fairer treatment of all genders and this compelled the British parliament to enact legislation that was in harmony with the European Union legislation. The membership of the European Union has resulted in states having an additional source of law, the European Union law. As treaties have been less than explicit as to the status of European law on the legal systems of its Member States, it has been left to the European Union Court of Justice to clarify and develop principles such as supremacy and direct effect (Karen, 1996). The impact of these principles has been profound, elevating its relevance and ensuring its uniform effectiveness throughout the Union.

Recently, the British government has drafted legislation to ensure that in future, parliament and the British citizens will have a say on any proposed transfer of powers from the United Kingdom to the European Union (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 2010). The main aim of this legislation is to increase democratic and parliament control, scrutiny and accountability over European Union decision making. This legislation also means that any proposed future transfer of areas of power from the United Kingdom to the European Union will be subjected to a referendum. This is seen as a way through which the British government tries to control its activities in the European Union and subsequently retrieve the ceded power. The public support of the involvement of the United kingdom in the European Union activities has fallen over the last decade and this is seen as a way through which the government is willing to allow the public and its parliament to have the pivotal control over their country’s involvement in European activities.

The European community law is an integral part of the law of England and Wales. European laws go hand in hand with the English and Wales law in many different situations such as employment rules, commercial activity, consumer rights and the protection of the environment.

The notion that one has to have binding legal documents in order to move from one European country to the other has ceased to exist. Initially, countries enacted legislation that regulated how citizens of other states could enter their countries. The emergence of the European Union and its subsequent treaties on the free movement has made it possible for individuals of member states to freely move across their borders without much hassle. The British parliament has therefore been made to enact legislation that reflects this and hence be in line with the directives of the European Union. This comes with the benefit of free movement of workers across the European community. It entails the removal of any unfair treatment in regard to employment opportunities among the member states. This has made member states not to enact laws that would protect their citizens in case unemployment of her citizen is on the rise as it would go against the good will of the European Union. With this regulation come two exceptions. The first one is that a member state is allowed to enact policies that will regulate the employment and second is that this regulation does not include employment in the public service.

The two main goals of the European Union were to establish a common market as well as a common custom union. The common market was to enhance free flow of goods, capital and labour among the member states. The free flow of labour was to enable movement of investment such as property purchase and purchase of shares among the member states.

In the years between the two world wars, the governments around the world had put into place vigorous guiding principles of national protectionism. The erection of tariffs and custom duties on imports and sometimes on export goods was seen by many as one factor that hindered the development of trade, and therefore stalling the growth and development of the economy. Economists had long said that the wealth of nations could only be strengthened by the long term lowering and abolishing of barriers and cost to the international trade. The abolishment of all such barriers is the function of the treaty provisions. The treaty required that restrictions on imports and exports of goods between member states be prohibited. These restrictions can only be abolished when there is a situation whereby the health of the member state citizens, their security, health of their animals, security, morality and culture, the protection of both their industrial and commercial property is threatened. For instance during the outbreak of bird flu, many countries across the European Union enacted laws that restricted the movement of poultry and poultry products among member states in order to protect the health of their citizens.

With the free trade and the common market, there have been accusations that the more developed countries benefit more than the less developed member states. Competition among the developed member states has also come in place. Most member states compete with each other on the various export products they produce. For instance, England and France are competing for the influence of the African continent. This has its destructive effects. The European Union policy regarding the common market and fair competition are therefore ignored and countries like England enact legislation that would make it favourable in the eyes of the African continent, thereby jeopardising the aims and gains of the entire European Union.

The European Union activities affecting pension arrangements have increased in the recent years (Luckhaus & Graham, 1996). The European Union is on the forefront, urging members to remove any barriers on the cross border investment of pension funds. Some of the measures that the European Union has advocated to enhance pension access and pension provision include employment protection, equality and labour mobility. In the employment protection scheme, the United Kingdom has provided the acquisition of pension rights to continue during periods of paid and unpaid maternity leave in its legislation. The equality law has enabled even the part time employees to access occupational pension schemes. This equality scheme has enabled women to qualify for a contributory state pension. This is a welcomed gesture to the women as they were earlier not eligible to any pension scheme partly because they were involved in the caring work.

The labour mobility schemes aim to neutralise those social security schemes thought likely to deter people from moving within the EU to work. When a worker moves to another country within the European Union, his pension schemes are preserved and are paid out as a proportion of the current rate applicable in the United Kingdom when entitlement is due. This scheme has enabled workers to retain membership of the United Kingdom state scheme even though they are working in another member state.

Several attempts have been made to calculate the impact on domestic laws of European Union requirements (European Movement, 2009). In comparison with other member states, the view that most of the laws in Britain are a result of the influence of the legislation of the European Union is considered to be true. Due to the direct effect of the EU legislation on the member state, there is no need for any member state to enact any legislation that would bring them into effect. For this reason, a Member State is required by the treaty to fully apply the law and that it does not need any form of national legislation for it to be fully effective in any Member State. This means that they impose obligation to the national citizens to the same extent as national law.

Many political leaders in their respective member countries have claimed that most of their legislature originated from the European Union legislation. For instance, the then British Prime minister, Tony Blair, in his 2004 speech to the CBI claimed that half of all major new regulation comes from the European Union. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, claimed in his pre-budget report that half of all the regulations originated from the European Union.

References

C, H. T. (2003). The Foundation of European Community Law. Oxford.

Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds. (1998, 7 1). European Union Law. Retrieved 3 10, 2011, from UK Law Online: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/european.htm

European Movement. (2009, 11). European Movement. Retrieved 3 10, 2011, from The Extent of EU Legislation: http://www.euromove.org.uk/index.php?id=9479

Foreign & Commonwealth Office. (2010, 5 25). Euro Bill. Retrieved 3 10, 2011, from Foreign & Commonwealth Office: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=22274694

Karen, A. j. (1996). The European Courts Political Power. West European Politics , 19(3) 45-87.

Luckhaus, L., & Graham, M. (1996). The Impact of European Union Law on Pensions in the U.K. York Publishing Services.

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