16 - The Protection of Constitutional Identity in a Europe of Multilevel Constitutionalism

Summary

The last chapter concentrates on this book’s underlying idea of characterising the relationship between EU law and national constitutional law as a system of multilevel constitutionalism. Staatenverbund and Verfassungsverbund are explained as ways of conceptualising the EU. Verbund, understood as a descriptive concept, builds on these concepts and explains the existing reality of the EU legal system, which contains both hierarchical and heterarchical elements. It is further developed as a normative concept with the aim of finding ways of optimising various forms of contextual interactions, mutual interdependence, and the interlinkage between EU law and national law in order to gain an effective solution for each individual problem at hand. Finally, the chapter also shows how thinking within the system of multilevel constitutionalism provides the framework and individual tools to balance the protection of Member States’ expressions of constitutional identity with the provisions and principles of EU law. Some possibilities for various joint EU and national legislative or judicial decisions are also outlined.