European Studies, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2015.
Original scientific paper
Constitutionalism and Federalism. Does the Supremacy Clause Define the Federal Character of the European Union?
Arsen Bačić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3508-6372
; Faculty of Law of the University of Split
Petar Bačić
orcid.org/0000-0001-6991-8272
; Faculty of Law of the University of Split
Abstract
Considering over half a century of Croatian existence within the Yugoslav Federation, there are sound reasons to assume that its citizens are able to identify the tendencies in complex state unions aiming to weaken its political position and interests. Soon after the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union it is legitimate to ask a question concerning the potential critical points and weak links in the co-ordinates of the new European partnership with Croatia. In other words, is there a possibility of appearance within the
EU of a rigid conception of a federal relationship in which the overall formal and factual predominance "of the centre over the periphery" wood sooner or later pressure any younger members to withdraw from this large Union? The authors consider the ratio of the supremacy clause as an instrument of constitutional and legal arsenal for addressing the relationship between federalism and democracy in any associative project, and hence also in this one at the EU level. Comparing the supremacy clause that was included in the US Constitution (1789) as a compromise between small and large states with some European solutions, the authors are wondering on the objectives and the character of similar formulae against the backdrop of the European context.
Keywords
federalism; supremacy clause; American federalism; federalism and the EU
Hrčak ID:
150716
URI
Publication date:
30.10.2015.
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