1. EU Competences
Tamara Ćapeta
2016

2. The Establishment of the EU
Comparable to evolutive federations :
Article 1 TEU:
“By this Treaty, the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a EUROPEAN UNION, hereinafter called ‘the Union’ on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common.”

3. All EU policies, except CFSP
EU after the Lisbon
EU Institutions
CFSP
All EU policies, except CFSP II I
III

4. Principle of conferral
Article 5 TEU:
1. “The limits of Union competences are governed by the principle of conferral (…)”
2. “Under the principle of conferral, the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein. Competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States.”

5. Limitted powers
Similar to federal states – eg. USA – the principle of enumerated powers
Constitutional nature of the principle of conferral: the consequence of the inexistence of power is invalidity of a legal norm adopted by the EU
Principle of conferral subject to judicial control

6. Novelty in the Lisbon Treaty
Article 4/1 TEU:
“In accordance with Article 5, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States.”
(repeated in Article 5/2 TEU)
Reasons?
Creeping competences

7. Judicial control of the principle of conferral
Only one decision declaring an EU act void because of the lack of EU competence :
Case C-376/98 Tobacco Advertising
Background : Kompetenz-Kompetenz doctrine of the German Bundesverfassungsgericht

8. Systematization of EU Competences
Novelty of the Lisbon Treaty
3 types of EU powers (Article 2 TFEU)
Exclusive
Shared
Complementary
(Additionally: Economic and Employment policies and the CFSP)

9. Exclusive Competences
only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, while Member States lost regulatory competence
MS cannot act even if the EU has not yet regulated
MS can enact implementing measures if so demanded by the EU act
For the first time exclusive powers are exhaustively enumerated in the Lisbon Treaty

10. Exclusive Competences
Article 3 TFEU
1. The Union shall have exclusive competence in the following areas:
(a) customs union;
(b) the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market;
(c) monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro;
(d) the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy;
(e) common commercial policy.
2. The Union shall also have exclusive competence for the conclusion of an international agreement when its conclusion is provided for in a legislative act of the Union or is necessary to enable the Union to exercise its internal competence, or in so far as its conclusion may affect common rules or alter their scope.

11. Shared Competences
both the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in the area at issue
Pre-emptive competences: once the EU has exercised its competence to regulate in certain area, MS cannot regulate any more
Parallel shared powers: even if EU has regulated certain issue, MS can still regulate

12. Shared Competences
Enumerated by the Lisbon Treaty in exemplary, not-exhaustive way (Article 4 TFEU):
(a) internal market;
(b) social policy, for the aspects defined in this Treaty;
(c) economic, social and territorial cohesion;
(d) agriculture and fisheries, excluding the conservation of marine biological resources;
(e) environment;
(f) consumer protection;
(g) transport;
(h) trans-European networks;
(i) energy;
(j) area of freedom, security and justice;
(k) common safety concerns in public health matters, for the aspects defined in this Treaty.

13. Complementary Competences
EU has competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
In these areas, EU cannot harmonise national laws by legally binding acts

14. Complementary Powers Article 6 TFEU:
(a) protection and improvement of human health;
(b) industry;
(c) culture;
(d) tourism;
(e) education, vocational training, youth and sport;
(f) civil protection;
(g) administrative cooperation

15. The scope and the limits of EU competences
Aims of particular policies, their scope and their limits are described in different provisions scattered throughout the Treaties
Subject to interpretation:
By EU institutions, primarily Commission which proposes the act, but also the Council and the EP that adopt it
Interpretation influenced by the position of the Member States sitting in the Council
Last word in the interpretation of the content and the limits of a power is given to the CJEU

16. Legal Basis
Due to the principle of conferral, each EU act need to have legal basis in the Treaties (TEU or TFEU)
The lack of the legal basis or wrong legal basis result in the legal invalidity of a measure
Legal basis – Treaty provision which contains certain concrete EU power and determines at the same time the type of procedure in which a measure is to be adopted and the institutions that participate in its enactment

17. Example No 1 Article 114/1 TFEU
Save where otherwise provided in the Treaties, the following provisions shall apply for the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 26. The European Parliament and the Council shall, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee, adopt the measures for the approximation of the provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States which have as their object the establishment and functioning of the internal market.

18. Example No 2 Article 113 TFEU:
The Council shall, acting unanimously in accordance with a special legislative procedure and after consulting the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee, adopt provisions for the harmonisation of legislation concerning turnover taxes, excise duties and other forms of indirect taxation to the extent that such harmonisation is necessary to ensure the establishment and the functioning of the internal market and to avoid distortion of competition.

19. The choice of a legal basis
Subject to judicial review by the CJEU
Cases about the right choice of the legal basis:
Battle for the vertical division of powers: EU – MS (C-376/98 Tobacco Advertising)
Battle for the powers among the institutions – determine the inter-institutional balance in the EU (C-176/03 Environmental Penalties);

20. Subsidiarity and Proportionality
If EU has a shared competence, it still does not mean that it can regulate specific issue
This depends on the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality
These principles are also of constitutional nature and their violation results in the invalidity of the adopted measure

21. Subsidiarity and Proportionality
Application of subsidiarity and proportionality regulated by the Protocol
Subject to judicial control
Novelty of the Lisbon Treaty – inclusion of national parliaments in the control of subsidiarity