The authority of legislation within the EU : an exploration of the connection between legitimate authority, legislative rules and text in the context of EU citizenship law

Abstract

This thesis studies the authority of legislation within the European Union. I believe that the EU legislature is an institution that does not always receive the attention it deserves, that the value of legislative decision-making remains misunderstood, and that our understanding of what it means for the acts of legislation to be recognised as authoritative still is underdeveloped. Drawing upon political and legal theory, I argue that the EU legislature must have a certain primacy over other sources of authority within the EU in the process of ordinary decision-making. That is, I suggest, primarily because the EU has reasonable legitimacy when subject to the control of the EU legislative process and also because legislation contributes to stability in EU decision-making and gives guidance to those subject to EU law. In addition to explaining the benefits of EU legislative decision-making, this thesis will provide the benchmarks that allow for a determination of whether other institutions recognise legislative acts as authoritative. I establish the connection between authority, legislative rules, and legislative text and argue that the authority of legislation is recognised if the constraints laid down by the rules of legislation and the text that articulates these rules are accepted. The authority of legislation is studied in the context of decision-making in the field of EU citizenship.