Legal History
Brexit: The United Kingdom's Withdrawal from the European Union (2016–2020)
Brexit — the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union — was the first exercise of Article 50 TEU, the withdrawal clause introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon. The process, spanning from …
EU Enlargement 2007 and 2013: Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia
The 2007 and 2013 enlargements of the European Union — the accession of Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January 2007 and of Croatia on 1 July 2013 — completed the fifth wave of EU enlargement and brought …
European Integration: From the Single European Act to the Lisbon Treaty (1986–2009)
The period from the Single European Act (1986) to the Treaty of Lisbon (2007, effective 2009) transformed the European Communities from a primarily economic common market into a political union with …
The 2004 EU Enlargement: The Eastern Enlargement
The 2004 enlargement of the European Union — the accession of ten new Member States on 1 May 2004 — was the largest single enlargement in the history of European integration. Cyprus, the Czech …
The EU Migration and Asylum Crisis (2015–2016)
The European migration and asylum crisis of 2015–2016 was the most severe challenge to the EU’s system of migration and asylum governance since the establishment of the Common European Asylum …
The EU Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
The European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) represented the most extensive exercise of EU crisis management powers in the Union’s history. The pandemic triggered a …
The Eurozone Crisis (2009–2015): Legal and Institutional Responses
The Eurozone crisis (2009–2015) was the most severe economic and financial crisis in the history of European integration, exposing fundamental weaknesses in the architecture of the Economic and …
The Lisbon Treaty and Constitutional Reform
The Failure of the Constitutional Treaty The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (the Constitutional Treaty), signed in Rome on October 29, 2004, was intended to replace the existing …
The Maastricht Treaty and the Creation of the European Union
The Context: From Single Market to Political Union The Treaty on European Union (TEU), signed at Maastricht on February 7, 1992, and entering into force on November 1, 1993, was the most ambitious …
The Origins of European Integration (1945–1979)
The origins of European integration lie in the post-Second World War determination to create a new political and legal order in Europe that would make war between European states not merely …