The Structural Crisis of European Law As a Means of Social Integration

Europe has been badly hit by several overlapping crises. This paper explores how the said crises were triggered by, and in turn, aggravated, a structural crisis of European law. By doing so, the concrete implications of ‘austerity’ in constitutional terms are spelled out. Firstly, the crises have led to punctual decisions and structural reforms honouring European constitutional norms in the breach. Secondly, the government of the crises has facilitated the radicalisation of the ongoing mutation of European constitutional law, in particular changes to the structural and substantive constitutional law which have locked in a constitutional vision of sorts at odds with the regulatory ideal of the Social and Democratic Rechtsstaat. Thirdly, the very nature of European law, and in particular its condition of grammar of democratic law, has been endangered: European law is in the process of becoming an instrument of authoritarian governance.