Date: 2021
Type: Thesis
The principle of mutual trust in EU law : what is in a name?
Florence : European University Institute, 2021, EUI, LAW, PhD Thesis
AASA, Birgit, The principle of mutual trust in EU law : what is in a name?, Florence : European University Institute, 2021, EUI, LAW, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/70259
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
This thesis examines the principle of mutual trust in European Union (EU) law – a nascent legal principle gradually trying to find its place in the EU legal and structural architecture and perhaps even in its constitutional hierarchy. In addition to exploring the principle from a doctrinal standpoint, the work investigates whether the way in which mutual trust has come to function in the Union legal order has the potential to foster actual trust in the EU, and between actors and subjects in the EU legal order. In order to do so, it draws on trust theories proposed by a wide range of social scientists. The doctrinal level of the thesis tracks the historical development and transformation of mutual trust and compartmentalises case law into four distinct jurisprudential generations, each with its specific set of characteristics, terminology, and functions. It does so in a broad manner, touching upon specific policy issues but not constrained by them. In this way, the thesis demonstrates how a principle first deployed in the internal market domain, aiming to encourage Member States to recognise each other’s product inspections not to second guess or duplicate them, became a broad Article 2 value adherence presumption that Member States would live up to ideals such as democracy, rule of law, freedom, and equality, respect for human dignity and human rights. The thesis finds that the prevailing conception of mutual trust as a broad EU law and fundamental rights compliance presumption fails to satisfy even the objective parameters of trust as a concept, meaning that the contexts in which mutual trust is raised are usually not situations which would require an attitude of trust but rather compliance, legality, accountability, and judicial control. The way in which mutual trust has come to operate in the EU is more akin to an undemocratic institutionalisation of trust than the institutionalisation of mistrust the latter being more typical of free and democratic societies. In addition to its critique of the current functioning and understanding of the principle of mutual trust, the thesis offers novel insights toward rethinking and reconstructing the principle in order to better achieve its aspirations.
Table of Contents:
-- Part 1. Introduction and methodology -- Part. 2 Starting with trust – the theoretical framing -- Part 3. Transformation of mutual trust : the making of a principle -- Part 4. But what about trust? – trust in mutual trust -- Part 5. Conclusions -- Part 6. Bibliography
Additional information:
Defence date: 26 February 2021; Examining Board: Professor Urška Šadl (European University Institute); Professor Bruno De Witte (European University Institute); Professor Anneli Albi (University of Kent); Michal Bobek (Court of Justice of the European Union)
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/70259
Full-text via DOI: 10.2870/47009
Series/Number: EUI; LAW; PhD Thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Trust -- European Union countries; Law -- European Union countries