Fahey, Elaine --- "A Jagged-edged Jigsaw: The Boundaries of Constitutional Differentiation and Irish-British-Euro Relations after the Treaty of Lisbon" [2012] ELECD 517; in Trybus, Martin; Rubini, Luca (eds), "The Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy

Editor(s): Trybus, Martin; Rubini, Luca

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857932556

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: A Jagged-edged Jigsaw: The Boundaries of Constitutional Differentiation and Irish-British-Euro Relations after the Treaty of Lisbon

Author(s): Fahey, Elaine

Number of pages: 13

Extract:

7. A jagged-edged jigsaw:
the boundaries of constitutional
differentiation and
Irish-British-Euro relations after
the Treaty of Lisbon
Elaine Fahey

1. INTRODUCTION1

While key objectives of the Stockholm Programme2 are judicial coopera-
tion and the unity of European Union (EU) law, the Treaty of Lisbon
appears to deepen and widen the nature of multi-speed integration in the
European Union (EU). Multi-speed integration in the EU (also known by
the terms variable geometry or constitutional differentiation)3 is an entity
that appears to be constantly evolving through the Treaties. Yet from the
inception of the Treaty of Amsterdam to the present day, Ireland and the
UK, together with Denmark, appear ostensibly to be the principal benefi-
ciaries of multi-speed integration, obtaining constitutional positions that
new accession States are unable to achieve. In the context of Ireland and the
UK, multi-speed integration took effect most prominently in the Schengen
Protocol attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam. Wiener suggested over a
decade ago (writing of this Protocol), that the utilisation of constitutional
differentiation by the UK to adopt its own policy stances demonstrated

1
For an earlier and fuller treatment of the arguments set out here with respect
to the Irish position in particular, see Fahey, E. (2010), `Swimming in a sea of law:
reflections on water borders, Irish(-British)-Euro relations and opting-out and
opting-in after the Treaty of Lisbon', Common Market Law Review, 47, 673­707.
2
Council document 17024/09, adopted by ...