ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to show that, even as part of the European Union (EU), member states’ law stands in need of legitimation as national law. The EU imposes specific duties on member states to allow individuals to challenge, before that state’s domestic courts, acts or omissions which would violate that state’s EU law obligation. The EU can be justified because it helps the member states solve particular collective action problems, such as maintaining peace, achieving economic prosperity or addressing externalities induced by the globalization of the economy. The EU, as a transnational institution, can therefore be justified to the member states on the grounds that membership of the EU, and compliance with EU policies, leads to better outcomes than non-membership or non-compliance. A significant strand in the scholarship has sought to link the legitimacy of the EU to the upholding or promotion of particular values.
