Publicaties
Belgium: a constitutional strategy in support of European integration - with some potential pitfalls Universiteit Antwerpen
From the start, Belgium has been an ardent supporter of European integration, mostly to maximize its national interests. This is reflected in its ratification procedure, in the large majorities by which founding European treaties were approved, in the consistent favourable position of mainstream parties, in the weak parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs, and in the position of the courts. The federalisation process however unintentionally ...
Autonomie en cohesie in het Belgische federale financieringssysteem Universiteit Antwerpen
Het financieringsstelsel is van primordiaal belang voor de werking van een federaal systeem. Toch blijft het vaak op de achtergrond in constitutionele theorieën en in politieke en maatschappelijke debatten over de staatshervorming. In deze bijdrage wordt een nieuwe benadering voorgesteld om federalisme te theoretiseren en concrete federale systemen te bestuderen op een wijze die het fiscaal federalisme de plaats geeft die het verdient. ...
Introduction: Constitutional dynamics of multi-level governance: indicators and hypotheses Universiteit Antwerpen
At the moment of signing the early EU tTreaties, the founding mMember sStates were not aware of the long-term pervasive implications of EU membership. This pushed them to remove the constitutional obstacles or take special measures to ensure the efficient implementation of EU law at the national level. Over time they seem to have adjusted their constitutional strategy in the face of multi-level governance, following the raise of concerns ...
Conclusions: Buidling the founding blocks of a new bottom-up constitutional theory of EU integration Universiteit Antwerpen
After having put forward in the introduction both the indicators and the research hypotheses, in this concluding chapter we examine the data collected through the country reports in order to conduct a comparative analysis of the strategic behaviour of national constitutional actors (parliaments, courts, and subnational entities) towards the supranational level, and to test the initial hypotheses. We focus in particular on three main areas: the ...
Belgium’s Parliamentary Administration Universiteit Antwerpen
This paper discusses the parliamentary administration of the Belgian federal parliament. It is focused on the administrative component of the parliament's organisation, which is inextricably intertwined with the political component, but not in itself involved in policy design. The chapter highlights the administration’s supportive role in political-administrative relations. For the Belgian House of Representatives, this results in a ...
Policy evaluation in the legislative cycle Universiteit Antwerpen
Integrating both ex-ante and ex-post evaluations in the legislative cycle leads to better lawmaking. Legislations can thus produce a fair and optimal impact based on evidence, contributing to solving societal problems in a relevant, efficient, reflexive and fair way. It should be the role of the courts to verify that this is the case, which they accomplish mainly through the proportionality test. Furthermore, evaluations help the courts to ...
Een zevende staatshervorming? Financiering en de federale balans Universiteit Antwerpen
In de aanloop naar de verkiezingen in 2024 ligt ook de vraag naar een staatshervorming weer op tafel. De aandacht gaat vooral naar bevoegdheden en structuur. Veel minder publieke aandacht gaat naar het financieringsstelsel, wegens te technisch en complex. Nochtans is dat een cruciaal thema, dat samenhangt met bevoegdheden en structuur. In deze bijdrage wordt uitgelegd hoe verder puzzelen aan de financiering een keuze inhoudt tussen meer ...
Novedades de los sistemas federales y descentralizados Universiteit Antwerpen
This chapter gives an overview of the federal arrangements of 6 political systems - Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland - and the most important developments and case law in the last twenty years.
L.B. v. Hungary and the quality of the parliamentary debate Universiteit Antwerpen
The parliamentary debate is at the heart of liberal democracy. The European Court of Human Right sees it as an important safeguard for the protection of fundamental rights. On its case law, it takes the quality of the parliamentary debate into account, along with other aspects of the decision-making process, to ensure that the various interests at stake have been balanced in an informed way. In this note, L.B. v. Hungary is used to show how the ...