AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

This dissertation analyses state sovereignty from the point of view of national constitutions in the context of the constitutional pluralism of the EU. The research questions of the study are threefold. 1. What changes has the European Union caused in the conceptions and theories of state sovereignty? 2. How do the constitutions of the EU Member States regulate sovereignty? 3. How have these sovereignty provisions been interpreted in Finland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Estonia in a selection of EU-related national treaty processes? These questions are examined with a combination of theoretical and genealogical methods as well as contextual legal dogmatics and legal comparison. The dissertation demonstrates that the EU, and European constitutionalism in general, has profoundly affected state sovereignty as a matter of national constitutional law. The concept of state sovereignty has met with increasing criticism. Particularly the idea of absolute sovereignty has faced its demise in the EU Member States. Nevertheless, the general scholarly take within constitutional law still holds on to the concept, but provides it with increasingly relative content expressed in different theories of delegated or shared sovereignty. The texts of the EU Member State constitutions, however, still hold on to rather absolute formulations of state sovereignty and are still silent on the EU despite its far-reaching effects on sovereignty. As a result the constitutional provisions on sovereignty have been subject to dynamic interpretation in order to enable the domestic ratification of the EU treaties and their amendments without jeopardising the EU s development. Germany belongs to the group of states whose constitutions do not contain a sovereignty clause and which have well-established empowerment clauses. The interpretations provided by the German Constitutional Court in regard to the EU treaties have at times been very EU critical, and influential: Sweden, for example, has clearly developed its EU regulation through the model provided by Germany. Sweden does not mention state sovereignty in its Constitutions, and its constitutional interpretation has been integration friendly. Denmark has an EU-minimalist Constitution, the rigidity and the strong built-in referendum institution of which has enabled it to negotiate opt-outs to the EU treaties, allowing it to escape certain significant consequences for sovereignty. Estonia is situated at the apex of sovereignty protectionist constitutions, but on the other hand its Supreme Court has adopted a very pro-EU manner of interpretation. Finland used to have one of the most sovereignty-oriented constitutions in the EU. However, during the country s EU membership the constitutional interpretation has shifted from a rigid and formalistic approach to state sovereignty towards emphasising and easing Finland s EU activities and other international cooperation. This development was codified in 2012 in the Constitution of Finland in the form of an EU clause and empowerment clauses. When…