This important new book seeks to widen the understanding of the principle of equality within European law. Firstly, it deconstructs the European Court of Justice's adjudication of cases in the field. It then explores how the Member States' courts decide on the question of equality. This detailed rigorous research allows the author to argue for a reconceptualised equality doctrine. Such an adaptation, the author argues, will provide judges, practitioners and academics with the tools to balance institutional considerations against substantive interpretation. Theoretically ambitious, while grounded in practical application, this is a significant restatement of one of the key principles of European law: the equality doctrine.

The thesis seeks to widen our understanding of the general principle of equality within European Union law. In its approach it is theoretically ambitious yet grounded in case law analysis. After an introduction into the origins of the notion of equality, the thesis sets out to deconstruct the adjudication by the European Court of Justice as well as by selected Member State courts on some of the most pressing issues of European equality law via the means of comparative institutional analysis. More specifically, it examines the diversity of applied standards of testing by the European Court of Justice, its handling of reverse discrimination and its dealing with affirmative action. Moreover, it looks at the Austrian and German case law on reverse discrimination. Through this exercise, the thesis illustrates that the judges are in their decisions both guided by reaching a 'fair' outcome to the cases and by reflections on their ability to rule on egalitarian issues. The work describes in detail how institutional considerations inform judicial decisions in matters of equality. Building on the finding that institutional thinking influences judicial decision making, the thesis continues to ask whether this practice is desirable. Its concluding chapter argues for an adaptation of the existing equality doctrine in European Union law in order to provide judges, practitioners and academics with tools to merge institutional considerations along with legalist interpretation of equality guarantees in an open and comprehensible manner.

This important new book seeks to widen the understanding of the principle of equality within European law. Firstly, it deconstructs the European Court of Justice's adjudication of cases in the field. It then explores how the Member States' courts decide on the question of equality. This detailed rigorous research allows the author to argue for a reconceptualised equality doctrine. Such an adaptation, the author argues, will provide judges, practitioners and academics with the tools to balance institutional considerations against substantive interpretation. Theoretically ambitious, while grounded in practical application, this is a significant restatement of one of the key principles of European law: the equality doctrine.

Respected as the definitive textbook on the subject, this is the stand-alone guide to EU law. The world-renowned authors offer the ideal balance of commentary, key cases, and materials to provide the most authoritative coverage and analysis.

European citizenship is facing numerous challenges, including fundamental rights and social justice considerations. These get amplified in the context of Brexit and the general rise of populism in Europe today. This book takes a representative selection of these challenges, which raise a multitude of highly complex issues, as an invitation to provide a critical appraisal of the current state of the EU legal framework surrounding EU citizenship. The contributions are grouped in four parts, dealing with constitutional developments posing challenges to EU citizenship; the limits of the free movement paradigm in the context of EU citizenship; EU citizenship beyond free movement; and, lastly, EU citizenship in the context of the outside world, including Brexit, the EEA and Eurasian Economic Union.

Discussing the fundamental role played by equality and non-discrimination in the EU legal order, this insightful book explores the positive and negative elements that have contributed to the consolidation of the process of EU legal integration. It provides an in-depth analysis of the three key dimensions of equality in the EU: equality as a value, equality as a principle and equality as a right.

“..this most thorough commentary must be regarded as the Bible on the Charter” Peter Oliver, Common Market Law Review This second edition of the first commentary of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in English, written by experts from several EU Member States, provides an authoritative but succinct statement of how the Charter impacts upon EU, domestic and international law. Following the conventional article-by-article approach, each commentator offers an expert view of how each article is either already being interpreted in the courts, or is likely to be interpreted. Each commentary is referenced to the case law and is augmented with extensive references to further reading. This is a much-welcomed new edition of the authoritative guide to the Charter.

Comparing the structures and challenges of democratic constitutionalism in India and the European Union, this book explores how democracy is possible within vastly diverse societies of continental scale, and why a constitutional framework is best able to secure the ideals of collective autonomy and individual dignity. It contributes to an emerging comparative discussion on structures of power, separation of powers and a comparative law of democracy, which has long been neglected in comparative constitutional studies.