The introduction by the Amsterdam Treaty of the flexibility clauses, authorising a majority of Member States to cooperate more closely in areas covered by the Treaties, has been received with mixed feelings. Flexibility is by no means a new phenomenon in the EU's development. It has been on the Community's agenda already since the 1970s. The Single European Act introduced several provisions allowing for flexible approaches to the single market, whilst the Maastricht Treaty launched a differentiated approach to the EMU and social policy. In addition to these forms of differentiation in primary Community law, for many years there has also been a number of quite important, though less visible, forms of differentiation in secondary Community law. This book aims to link both levels of differentiation and seeks to unveil the many faces of differentiation in EU law. It analyses whether, and to which extent, there is a shift in European integration from a system of unity and uniformity to one of flexibility and differentiation. A first series of contributions to the book analyse a number of exemplary policy fields (EMU, social policy, environment, free movement of persons, justice and home affairs) in order to identify their degree of differentiation. A second set of contributions examine various 'horizontal' institutional matters of cross-sectoral importance. These two main parts are framed by introductory articles on the development of flexibility and by contributions drawing on the constitutional limits to differentiation. The contributions are made by Dominik Hanf, José M. de Areilza, Jean-Victor Louis, Sean Van Raepenbusch, Ludwig Kramer, Georgia Papagianni, Grainne de Burca, Ellen Vos, Linda Senden, Sacha Prechal, Wouter Devroe, Deirdre Curtin, Bruno De Witte, Eddy De Smijter en Jan Wouters.

This book reflects on selected issues of European law in dialogue with leading legal scholar Bruno De Witte, whose work has enlightened generations of students, scholars and practitioners of European law. The volume is designed to mark the impressive academic oeuvre of a great legal mind and true academic whose elegant and insightful writings have decisively contributed to the advancement of the study of European law. The contributions attempt to 'make sense of European Union law' reflecting Bruno's mission as a legal scholar and commenting on some of the themes that he has worked on: constitutional Europe, differentiated Europe, social and educational Europe and minorities Europe. It culminates in reflections on the very nature of Bruno's scholarship and his academic persona. Not only is this book a public recognition and an expression of appreciation for all that Bruno has offered to the European legal community but also an invitation to challenge the way many scholars think of academic careers and their ways to success.

The trade conflicts that the EU has faced within the EU or WTO context demonstrate that the question of how to balance trade and other societal values in situations of uncertainty has not been solved by the regulatory model evolved by the EU in the aftermath of the BSE crisis – one which privileges processes of depoliticisation and scientification. This book addresses the current key dilemmas around science, law and the regulation of trade, both on a regime level and in the context of particular industrial sectors, e.g pharmaceuticals, climate change and nanotechnology. It will present possible future research avenues by looking at both theory and practice and learning from various disciplines (law and social sciences), legal realities (WTO, USA and EU) and actors (regulators, stakeholders, courts).

Recoge: 1. Introduction -- 2. The new approach: "delegation" or "interventionism"? "Deregulation" or re-regulation? -- 3. Restating the problem: "Delegation" revisited -- 4. Reinterpreting European standardisation.

In this book, Dr Ellen Vos analyses the emergence of EC product safety regulation, which is explained as a reaction both to spill-over effects of the internal market policy, and to growing societal concerns regarding health and safety protection. Due to factors such as mutual distrust between the Member States, the 'post-Maastricht' Community is increasingly required to play a direct role in health and safety regulation. This has confronted the Community with regulatory problems relating to the assessment and management of risks. This book seeks to identify the principles of the resulting Community approach to risk regulation. It first elaborates the fundamental EU law concepts of competence, institutional balance, subsidiarity, delegation of powers in relation to health and safety. These legal concepts are then used to appraise the legality and the legitimacy of the three basic regulatory patterns typical of the Community approach to science-based decision-making: resorting to committees (in the food sector), to agencies (pharmaceuticals), and to private bodies (standardisation). Dr Vos concludes that, to date, Community risk regulation is pragmatic but lacks a coherent regulatory model. However, events following the BSE crisis suggest the Community may be taking the first tentative steps toward developing a general concept of risk regulation.