Law and policy in European integration (1960s-1990s)

Research Project

From its beginnings, European integration required legal solutions to very concrete policy issues and led to the creation of a large body of policy-relevant law – ranging from agriculture and competition to the environment and social policy. The project focuses on the relationship between law and policy in European integration from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The relationship between law and policy goes both ways. On the one hand, we will explore how European law shaped European policy-making. To what extent did legal actors – lawyers within the institutions and courts –enable or obstruct the development of various policies and the legal instruments chosen? What legal norms, ideas and doctrines did they employ in doing so? On the other hand, we will investigate how European policy shaped European law. How is this influence reflected in legislation and judicial decisions? The objective of the project is to enhance our understanding of what ‘integration through law’ means, particularly with a view to European policy areas that have increasingly come to shape the lives and livelihoods of European citizens.