Opting out from European Union legislation: the differentiation of secondary law. Issue 3 (9th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Duttle, Thomas; Holzinger, Katharina; Malang, Thomas; Schäubli, Thomas; Schimmelfennig, Frank; Winzen, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Journal of European public policy. Volume 24:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 406
• Page End: 428
• Publication Date: 2017-03-09
• Subjects: Differentiated integration -- European Union -- legislation -- opt-outs -- secondary law; European Union countries -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Political planning -- European Union countries -- Periodicals; Politique publique -- Pays de l'Union européenne -- Périodiques; Pays de l'Union européenne -- Politique et gouvernement -- Périodiques; 361.61094
• DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2016.1149206
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1350-1763

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Differentiated integration in the European Union (EU) has been primarily discussed and analysed at the treaty level, whereas lack of systematic data has hampered the examination of secondary-law or legislative differentiation. We present a new data set of differentiation in EU legislation from 1958 to 2012, a descriptive analysis and a comparison of the patterns of primary- and secondary-law differentiation across time, member states and policies. We find that differentiation facilitating the accession of new members and constitutional differentiation accommodating the opposition against the integration of core state powers drive both primary- and secondary-law differentiation. In addition, we find complementarity between differentiation in treaty law and secondary legislation depending on the availability and salience of differentiation opportunities.