TY - JOUR

T1 - The hesitant European?

T2 - The constitutional foundation of Denmark’s EU membership and its material reality

AU - Wind, Marlene

N1 - Forthcoming in Stefan Griller, Lina Papadapoulou, Roman Puff (eds), Member States' Constitutions and EU Integration (Oxford, Hart, 2020)

PY - 2019/11/21

Y1 - 2019/11/21

N2 - The establishment of a supranational legal order in Europe and powerful European courts like the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, constitutes a rather dramatic challenge to the Danish legal and political tradition. In Denmark, the Parliament has the upper hand compared to other branches of government and is regarded as the ultimate symbol of democracy. Similar to other Nordic countries, Denmark has no tradition of judicial review and few national politicians, judges or civil servants have over the years questioned this state of affairs despite the process of European integration. Denmark has similarly been regarded as a bastion of Scandinavian legal positivism where statutes and political decision-making together with judicial self-restraint on part of the national judiciary are absolutely central. In this light the European constitutional development has been close to a revolution and profoundly challenged the Danish majoritarian tradition. The article digs into the Danish dilemmas, Denmark’s legal and democratic tradition, its EU opt-outs and not least its hesitant acceptance of the supremacy of European law.

AB - The establishment of a supranational legal order in Europe and powerful European courts like the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, constitutes a rather dramatic challenge to the Danish legal and political tradition. In Denmark, the Parliament has the upper hand compared to other branches of government and is regarded as the ultimate symbol of democracy. Similar to other Nordic countries, Denmark has no tradition of judicial review and few national politicians, judges or civil servants have over the years questioned this state of affairs despite the process of European integration. Denmark has similarly been regarded as a bastion of Scandinavian legal positivism where statutes and political decision-making together with judicial self-restraint on part of the national judiciary are absolutely central. In this light the European constitutional development has been close to a revolution and profoundly challenged the Danish majoritarian tradition. The article digs into the Danish dilemmas, Denmark’s legal and democratic tradition, its EU opt-outs and not least its hesitant acceptance of the supremacy of European law.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - European law and integration

KW - Danish constitutional law

KW - European constitutionalism

KW - Sovereignty

KW - European Court of Justice

KW - Scandinavian legal positivism

KW - Danish opt-outs of the EU

UR - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3491181

U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.3491181

DO - 10.2139/ssrn.3491181

M3 - Journal article

JO - SSRN: Social Science Research Network

JF - SSRN: Social Science Research Network

SN - 1556-5068

ER -