8 - Epilogue

Summary

Chapter 8 discusses the broader significance of EU legal advisers’ work in managing the boundary between law and politics. What happens when there is tension between the letter of the law and the unified political will of the leadership? In the event of overreach, should EU legal advisers be expected to frustrate those ambitions? EU legal advisers generally see their role otherwise. The reading of EU law evolves, and the engine of that evolution is political will. EU legal advisers perceive themselves as facilitators of that political will. Their task and expertise lie in providing legal argumentation to create flexibility where needed, not in protecting an abstract and inert interpretation of the law. Scope of interpretation is constrained by the risk of the measure failing in Court – an unlikely prospect, particularly if all institutions supported it. The work of legal advisers is a balancing act between the Union’s ability to respond to unexpected events and safeguarding the stability of its constitutional framework. How they strike this balance affects the legitimacy of the Union as a whole.