1.
Socialisation and legitimacy intermediation in the Council of the European Union
(Kamil Ławniczak/Essay)
(Kamil Ławniczak/Essay)
... to decide by qualified majority. Socialisation is weakening the input legitimacy of decisions made in the Council, while at the same time enhancing their output legitimacy by favouring genuine consens ...
2.
The voting systems in the Council of the EU and the Bundesrat – What do they tell us about European Federalism?
(Jacek Czaputowicz and Marcin Kleinowski/Essay)
(Jacek Czaputowicz and Marcin Kleinowski/Essay)
... for more than half a century. At the same time, the system of double majority is fundamentally different from the assumptions on which voting systems in federal states are based, including in the Bundesrat. ...
3.
From the Unitary Patent Package to a Federal EU Patent Law
(Juliana Almeida and Guilherme Oliveira e Costa/Essay)
(Juliana Almeida and Guilherme Oliveira e Costa/Essay)
... of this new system. Nevertheless, the involvement of the majority of the Member-States in the Unitary Patent Package, through participating in an international agreement and in using the EU’s enhanced ...
4.
The Spanish vision of Canada’s Clarity Act: from idealization to myth
(Francisco Javier Romero Caro/Essay)
(Francisco Javier Romero Caro/Essay)
... The emphasis tends to be made on the quantitative clear majority test, disregarding other factors. Hence, the aim of this paper is to study the causes of this deification of the Clarity Act in Spain, and ...
Constitutional politics seemingly corroborate the assumption that Germany is a Grand Coalition state. In this perspective German cooperative federalism and the supermajority required for any amendment ...
6.
Rights of Minors and Constitutional Politics in the German Länder. Legal Framework, Party Strategies, and Constitutional Amendments
(Astrid Lorenz/Essay)
(Astrid Lorenz/Essay)
... and contents of respective initiatives vary significantly in the period from 1999 to 2014. These variations were due to different party strategies, diverging party platforms and majority constellations ...
7.
Movement towards a Flemish Constitution: the Charter for Flanders, another failed attempt?
(Sarah Lambrecht/Essay)
(Sarah Lambrecht/Essay)
A Constitution for Flanders has been preoccupying Flemish politicians and scholars for over twenty years. On 23 May 2012, the majority parties presented in the Flemish Parliament the Charter for Flanders. ...
8.
Constitutional bases in the federal conflict over access to health care of undocumented immigrants in Spain
(Irene Sobrino Guijarro/Essay)
(Irene Sobrino Guijarro/Essay)
... processes governing the transfer of powers from the central level and the consolidation of the political autonomy of “Autonomous Communities.” For instance, the vast majority of legislative powers in the ...
9.
The scrutiny of the principle of subsidiarity by autonomous regional parliaments with particular reference to the participation of the Parliament of Catalonia in the early warning system
(Esther Martín Núñez/Essay)
(Esther Martín Núñez/Essay)
... weeks, a report on compliance with the principle of subsidiarity. The majority of regional parliaments have also carried out normative reforms to regulate the procedure of participation in the early warning ...
10.
Federalism, the subnational constitutional framework and local government: Accommodating minorities within minorities
(Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha/Essay)
(Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha/Essay)
... A subnational constitutional framework that is based on the constitutional principles of self-rule (and possibly shared rule), this article argues, represents the best hope in addressing the majority-minority ...
... Länder alike. The Grand Coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD managed to quickly gather a qualified majority in the Bundestag, making the qualified majority of Länder the crucial negotiating point. At the end, ...