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ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF EU LAW
DIVISION OF COMPETENCES BETWEEN THE EU AND
ITS MEMBER STATES IN THE LAW-MAKING PROCESS

This chapter offers an analysis of how EU law is created, implemented
and monitored. Such an analysis will help to further comprehend the
EU’s unique legal personality as well as the principles of legislative
competence-sharing between the Union and its member states. The
chapter will enhance the reader’s knowledge with regard to legal acts
and the procedures for their adoption which have been discussed in
the chapter on EU decision-making.

EU Primary Law

Any EU decision and following action must be in compliance with EU
treaties. EU treaties set the main EU values and objectives, the roles
of EU institutions and the competence-sharing among them, the EU
decision-making toolbox and the main principles of the relationships
between the EU and its member states, etc. Treaties have been signed
and approved by all EU states, thus, making the provisions of the
treaties mandatory for the EU members. In the legal hierarchy of the
Union, EU treaties are documents of a superior legal weight. They
shape the main legal framework of the European Union, which is often
referred as the EU Constitutional legal framework (the Union has
never adopted a single constitutional treaty of the EU). All other EU
decisions and legal documents must be adopted within this framework.
Thus, EU Treaties represent EU “Primary Law.” Apart from the treaties,
87
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as the
general principles established by the Court of Justice of the European
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Union (CJEU); namely, fundamental human rights, the principles of
87 Treaties currently in force
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties/treaties-force.html#new-2-54
88 The European Union’s primary law
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=legissum:l14530