5. Legislating in the European Union

Abstract

This chapter discusses the procedures for the adoption of legislative and other normative measures in the EU. It touches on a wide variety of subjects: forms of legal act; law-making competences and choice of procedure; the delegation of normative powers; and the application of the constitutional principles of conferral, subsidiarity, and proportionality. A number of more abstract matters are also covered, such as the hierarchy of norms and the ‘democratic deficit’.