Herlin-Karnell, Ester --- "Enhanced Cooperation and Conflicting Values: Are New Forms of Governance the Same as ‘Good Governance’?" [2012] ELECD 518; 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 8

Section Title: Enhanced Cooperation and Conflicting Values: Are New Forms of Governance the Same as ‘Good Governance’?

Author(s): Herlin-Karnell, Ester

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

8. Enhanced cooperation and
conflicting values: are new forms of
governance the same as `good
governance'?
Ester Herlin-Karnell*

1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter aims to explore the concept of enhanced cooperation and its
possible use under the Lisbon Treaty. The focus of this chapter relates to
how the mechanisms of enhanced cooperation will work with regard to the
dynamic Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). After all, under
the former EU Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice the regulation of enhanced
cooperation has never been used owing to the fact that the restrictions
regulating the establishment of such a regime were so numerous, that
almost nothing met the criteria in question. The first ever approval of resort
to enhanced cooperation was recorded in July 2010 regarding the law
applicable to divorce and legal separation.1 Indeed, it is sometimes pointed
out that regional forms of enhanced cooperation may provide tailor-made
responses to particular problems instead of the `one size fits all' template
provided by the programme of harmonisation. Therefore, I will try to
examine the impact of the establishment of enhanced cooperation in the

* Thanks go to Dr Elaine Fahey for her useful comments on an earlier draft, as
well as to the participants at the EU law `After Lisbon' conference at Birmingham
Law School 24­25 June 2010, and to Robin Morris for proof reading this chapter.
The usual disclaimer applies.
1
Dec 2010/405, OJ [2010] L189/12. See Peers, S. (2010), `Divorce, European
style: the first ...