Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis chapter aims to explore some challenges that are likely to arise in the context of the UK's present and future relationships with the EU. Three aspects come under scrutiny, namely the global opt-out available for the UK in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (Protocol 36 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)), the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence and the contemplated 2017 referendum on whether the UK should remain an EU Member State. The chapter stresses not only the importance of restoring objectivity in the debates surrounding these issues, but also the necessity of taking due account of the uncertainties that these processes unavoidably entail as to their end results for both the UK and Scotland.

The draft treaty agreed at the Nice Intergovernmental Conference ("IGC") has had a very mixed press throughout the European Union, even if not all of the criticisms have been entirely justified. Its rejection by voters in the Irish Republic in the referendum on 7 June 2001 appears, according to most commentators, to have been motivated by a wide range of concerns, only some of which relate directly to what was actually agreed at Nice. Whilst this rejection has certainly added to the impression that the Nice Treaty itself is inherently flawed, there are however some aspects of the Treaty of Nice which are undoubtedly very positive, and which should be relatively uncontroversial, even to those most sensitive to the development of the Union. Not the least of these are the provisions that will create the possibility of far-reaching improvements to the present system of Community courts in Luxembourg, and to the Court of First Instance of the European Communities ("CFI") in particular.