Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Language, Hegemony and the European Union pp 173–202Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Legal Order

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 275 Accesses

Abstract

This is the first of three chapters that consider specific institutions and how the European Union influences their operation. We ask what is the relationship between law and institutions and, specifically, how have the legal institutions of the European Union dealt with language issues? It concludes that the EU stands aloof from most language issues, other than those that are relevant to the operation of the single market.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    This largely accounts for why most states do not have specific regulation by reference to the state language.

  2. 2.

    Further, the ECJ only had competence in the field of EU law, as is made clear in the case of Grogan.

  3. 3.

    This is decided by the nation state and tends to refer to the state language. On the other hand there are anomalies such as the case of Irish.

  4. 4.

    What is and is not a language is a contentious issue. In this respect it is a political rather than a linguistic one. Consequently, what might be understood as a dialect in one context becomes a ‘language’ in another. Furthermore, since within modernism there is one society for each state, language groups in different states are treated as separate entities. Thus ‘German in Italy’ is treated as a different language group than ‘German in Switzerland’. Both are treated as distinct language groups within different states. Also, the adjective ‘minority’ refers to power rather than numbers.

  5. 5.

    Of course within a context where not everyone has a single language in common a degree of discrimination will be inevitable. Thus, for example, any post requiring a knowledge of English will discriminate against those who do not have an English language competence. This tends to be ignored with reference to official languages.

  6. 6.

    The EU has recognised the status of Catalan, Basque and Galician as semi-official languages provided that the costs of doing so are assumed by Spain. This leaves minority languages susceptible to the whim of the state rather than being a solution safeguarded by the EU.

  7. 7.

    Quoted from judgement given in Groener Case 379/87 CJEU.

  8. 8.

    For a discussion of the Bickel & Franz case see Marácz and Versteegh (2010).

  9. 9.

    The European Parliament has made four resolutions between 1981 and 1994 regarding the situation of minority language communities.

  10. 10.

    The declarations have led to the establishment of finance projects such as EUROMOSAIC, EBLUL and MERCATOR.

Bibliography

  • Arzoz, X. 2008. Respecting linguistic diversity in the European Union. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Balibar, E. 2004. We the people of Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbier, J.-C. 2008. La longue marche vers l’ Europe sociale. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. 1993. Postmodern ethics. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burch, S.J. 2009. Regional minorities, immigrants, and migrants: The reframing of minority language in Europe. Berkeley Journal of International Law 28(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Delmas-Marty, M. 2007. Mondialisation du droit et crise des pouvoirs. In Les Sciences Sociales en Mutation, ed. M. Wieviorka, 103–115. Paris: Editions Science Humaines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickson, J. 2008. How many legal systems?: Some puzzles regarding the identity conditions of, and relations between, legal systems in the European Union. Problema 2: 9–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dworkin, R. 1977. The philosophy of law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1983. In defence of equality. Social Philosophy and Policy 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Central Bank. 2006. The application of multilingualism in the European Union context. Legal Working Paper Series no. 2/February 2006. Brussels.

    Google Scholar 

  • Follesdal, A., and S. Hix. 2006. Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU: A reply to Majone and Moravcsik. Journal of Common Market Studies 44: 533–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. 2003. Society must be defended: Lectures at the College de France 1975–1976. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greer, S., and A. Williams. 2009. Human rights in the council of Europe and the EU : Towards ‘individual’, ‘constitutional’ or ‘institutional justice. European Law Journal 15(4): 462–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. 1975. Legitimation crisis. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1992. Citizenship and national identity: Some reflections on the future of Europe. Bulletin of the International Council for Distance Education 12(1): 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1995. Reconciliation through the public use of reason: remarks on John Rawls’ Political Liberalism. Journal of Philosophy 92(3).

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2001. Why Europe needs a constitution. New Left Review 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2005. Euroscepticisme, Europe du marche ou Europe (como) politique. In Une epoque des transitions, ecrits politque 1998–2003. Paris: Fayard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, H.L.A. 1982. Essays on Bentham: Studies in Jurisprudence and political theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. 2005. A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, F. 1973. Law, legislation and liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leczykiewicz, D. 2010. Effective judicial protection of human rights after Lisbon: Should national courts be empowered to review EU secondary law? ELRev 35: 326.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCormick, N. 1999. Questioning sovereignty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maduro, A.G. Poiares. 2005. Opinion on Case C-160/03 Spain v Eurojust, 16.12.2004. European Court Reports, I-2077.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marácz, László, and Cornelia Versteegh. 2010. European citizenship as a new concept for European identity. European and Regional Studies 1: 161–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariani, P. 2001. Overview: Law, order and neoliberalism. Social Justice 28: 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, P., and N. Rose. 2008. Governing the present. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouthaan, S. 2007. The EU and minority languages: Missed opportunities and double standards. Web Journal of Current Legal Issues 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nic Shuibhne, N. 2001. The European Union and minority language rights: Respect for cultural and linguistic diversity. International Journal of Multicultural Societies 3(2): 61–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oeter, S. 2007; Rechtsprechungskonkurrentz zwischen nationalen Verfassungsgerichten, Europaischem Gerichtshof fur Menshenrechte. in Veroffentlichungen der Vereinigung der DeutschenStaatsrechtslehrer 66 361-31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raz, J. 1979. The authority of law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1986. The morality of freedom. London: Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassen, S. 2007. L’emergence d’une multiplication d’assemblages de territoire, d’autorites et de droits. In Les Sciences Sociales en Mutation, ed. M. Wieviorka, 205–223. Paris: Editions Science Humaines.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2011. Against all odds: The urbanizing of human security? In Bottom-up politics: An agency-centred approach to globalisation, ed. Denisa Kostovicova and Marlies Glasius, 216–226. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Seidentop, L. 2000. Democracy in Europe. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smismans, S. 2010. The European Union’s fundamental rights myth. Journal of Common Market Studies 45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamanaha, B.Z. 2008. The dark side of the relationship between the rule of law and liberalism. New York Journal of Law and Liberty 33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Touraine, A. 2010. Apres le Crise. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Bossuyt, A. 2007. Fit for purpose or faulty design? Analysis of the Jurisprudence of the European Court of human rights and the European court of justice on the legal protection of minorities. Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 6(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Versteegh, C.R.M. 2010. European human rights and equality rights: A promise of language rights? In Concepts and consequences of multilingualism in Europe, ed. J. Róka, 10–34. Budapest: BKF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Bogdandy, A. 2000. The European Union as a human rights organisation. Common Market Law Review 27: 1307.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2007. Constitutional principles. In Principles of European constitutional law, ed. A. von Bogdandy and J. Bast, 1–52. Oxford: Hart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, R. 2007. Individual rights and group rights in the European Union’s approach to minority languages. Duke Journal of International and Comparative Law 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiler, J.H.H. 1981. The community system: The dual character of supranationalism. In Yearbook of European Law, ed. F.G. Jacobs, 267–306. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, G. 2005. Sustaining language diversity in Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, G., and D. Morris. 2005. Language and social networks. Report presented to the Welsh Language Board, Cardiff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, G., and G.O. Williams. 2012. Union and unity out of diversity. In Multilingual Europe, multilingual Europeans, ed. L. Maracz and M. Rosello. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ynys Mon, UK

    Glyn Williams

  2. London, UK

    Gruffudd Williams

Authors
  1. Glyn Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gruffudd Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Williams, G., Williams, G. (2016). The Legal Order. In: Language, Hegemony and the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33416-5_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33416-5_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33415-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33416-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation