Internal Market Emergency

Abstract

‘Internal market emergency’ is a new legal concept in EU Law. During such an emergency, the Council of the European Union may decide to activate the Internal Market Emergency Mode, which grants emergency powers to the Council and the European Commission and restricts the scope of exceptions in case of emergency available to the Member States under the treaties. This article analyses this concept in the light of existing EU emergency powers and the balance of power between the sovereign Member States and the supranational EU-institutions. The focus is the legal definition of ‘internal market emergency’ and how this new legal concept fits in the framework of existing EU emergency law. The article concludes that the concept causes terminological confusion, splits our understanding of emergency into ‘EU emergencies’ and ‘emergencies in the EU’ and may have far-reaching consequences for the Member States’ possibility to rely on treaty-based derogations in case of emergency.