8. FEDERAL LIMITS OF EU LAW
Although the EU cannot be considered federal, and J. E. Fossum brings the following reasons in "The Future of the European Order“ in P. Birkinshaw, M. Varney (eds.), 2010, The European Union Legal Order after Lisbon (Kluwer):
● it lacks a proper federal government;
● there exists significant incongruence btw. the tasks actually allocated to the EU-level on the one hand, and the representative body’s ability to control those at the very same level, on the other;
● the EU’s structure of authority is more dispersed;
● the EU is culturally pluralist and institutionally heterogeneous (you may agree or disagree),
EU action is limited by the principle of conferral of powers on it by its Member States and lack of Kompetenz-Kompetenz (broadly to speak).
Thus, for adoption of legislative acts, EU law must foresee:
- competence;
- institution;
- procedure;
- legal act.
As the EU legal
acts are adopted on
the basis of the powers conferred in the Treaties, not exceeding those powers;