Research
19.04.2024

Institutional Choice in the Internal Market

Who gets to decide how EU law is made and applied? One would think that this question is at the forefront of the study of EU law, but legal scholars are often more interested in the question of ‘what’ gets decided – what rights EU citizens (should) have, what obstacles to the four economic freedoms are justified, and so forth. Yet as three recently published monographs show, the answer to the ‘what’ question is influenced by, and depends on, ‘who’ gets to answer it. The monographs examine the institutional choices made in EU internal market law, affecting its interpretation and application. Each in its own way, with respect to the institutions studied and the methodological choices made, is concerned with the question of who decides and/or should decide on the development of internal market law and, relatedly, the interaction of market interests with competing public interests. This review essay puts these books into conversation with each other, inter alia by discussing what they collectively tell us about the institutional choices involved in the making of the internal market.

Martijn van den Brink (April 2024): Institutional Choice in the Internal Market, Modern Law Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12892