General Principles of European Union Law

Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..1
Concept of new legal order and its effect on sovereignty of Member States……………….1
The role of ECJ in developing principles and whether Treaties expressly provided basis for those principles…………………………………………………………………………………2
Supremacy of Community law………………………………………………………………...3
Interpretation of Community law…………………………………………………………….3
Non-discrimination on the basis of nationality/gender as fundamental principle………...4
Principle of proportionality…………………………………………………………………...5
Human rights in the European Union………………………………………………………..6
The direct effect of European law…………………………………………………………….7
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...8
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...9

General Principles of European Union Law
Introduction
Today’s well-known Union of 27 member states of Europe was created in early 1950s by the chain of events. Early unions such as European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Economic Community (EEC) and the Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) have made the foundation of the developed European Union. European Union is an economic and political entity located in Europe, it is also fact that EU is a huge market. EU was created by the treaty of European Union in 1993. The EU law is supranational law, it is supreme to the national laws of the member states and not limited by any national laws.

Concept of new legal order and its effect on sovereignty of Member States
The supremacy of EU law over the national laws of the EU member states means that the law created by EU has a direct effect on the EU countries and must be applied. Case “Van Gend en Loos vs. Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen” of 1963 has raised a question whether Community law is applicable to individuals as well as to the member states. It has been decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that the national courts must protect individual rights, thus it lead to the creation of “direct

Bibliography: 2. Albi, A., (2007). Supremacy of EC Law in the New Member States. European Constitutional Law Review. 3. 25-67. [online] Available from: KAR [Accessed 23 January 2011] 3 4. Europa, (2010). The direct effect of European law. [online] Available from: Europa. [Accessed 20 January 2011] 5 6. Europa, (2010). The position of Union law in relation to the legal order as a whole. [online] Available from: Europa. [Accessed 20 January 2011] 7 8. Europa, (2010). Non-discrimination principle. [online] Available from: Europa. [Accessed 20 January 2011] 9 10. Europa, (2010). Discrimination. [online] Available from: Europa. [Accessed 20 January 2011] 11 12. European commission, (2010). Common principles and pathways. [online] Available from: European commission. [Accessed 21 January 2011] 13 14. European Law Monitor, (2008). What is the Principle of Proportionality & Subsidiarity? [online] Available from: Dvisions. [Accessed 20 January 2011] 15 16. Iliopoulos, C., (2008). The principle of non-discrimination in Europe - 17 18. Mifsud-Bonnici, A., (1996). The role of the Court of Justice in the development of the General Principles of Community Law. [online] Available from: Aron Mifsud-Bonnici LL.D. [Accessed 21 January 2011] 19 20. Oxford University Press, (2010). EU Law Concentrate 2e. [online] Available from: Oxford University Press [Accessed 24 January 2011] Book sources: 1. Hartley, T. (2008). The Foundations of European Community Law, 4th ed. pp. 37-44 Oxford: OUP. 2. Fairhurst, J and Vincenzi, C. (2003). Law of the European Community, 4th ed.. Ch.4. Harlow: Pearson. 3. Shaw, J. (2000). Law of the European Union, 3d ed. Ch.6 Basingstoke: Palgrave.