This edited volume aims to reveal the Janus-faced character of federalism in the European Union. Federalism appears in two main forms in the EU. On the one hand, numerous formerly unitary Member States have embarked on a path towards a (quasi-)federal governance structure. On the other hand, the EU itself is sometimes qualified as a federal system. Significantly, the concept of federalism has a very different, even opposite, connotation in both contexts. When associated with Member State reform, federalism is regarded as a technique for accommodating autonomy claims of sub-state nations. By contrast, when federalism is used as a label for the EU itself, it is conceived as a far-reaching way of integrating the nations of Europe. This dual appearance of federalism in the EU context is central to the structure of the book. The first collection of essays addresses the question whether the EU may be described as a federal system, and whether it can learn from existing federations. In the second set of contributions, the attention shifts to domestic federalisation processes, more particularly to the impact of these processes on EU law and vice versa.

Introduction: Federalism's Janus Face Elke Cloots, Geert De Baere and Stefan SottiauxPART I: FEDERALISM IN THE EU'S CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE 1. EU Federalism in 3-D Koen Lenaerts2. Federalism and Jurisdiction Pavlos Eleftheriadis3. Federalism, the EU and International Law: On the Possible (and Necessary) Role of Subsidiarity in LegitimateMultilevel Trade Governance Alexia Herwig4. The Court of Justice as a Federal Constitutional Court: A Comparative Perspective Monica Claes and Maartje de Visser5. The Dual System of Rights Protection in the European Union in Light of US Federalism Aida Torres Pérez6. Federalism and International Relations in the European Union and the United States: A Comparative OutlookGeert De Baere and Kathleen GutmanPART II: EU LAW AND MEMBER STATE FEDERALISM 7. European Ties that Bind: Political or Cultural? Helder De Schutter8. Does EU Decision-Making Take into Account Regional Interests? Piet Van Nuffel9. The Role of Sub-State Entities in the EU Decision-Making Processes: A Comparative Constitutional Law Approach Nikos Skoutaris10. Autonomous Constitutional Regions in a Federal Europe Joxerramon Bengoetxea11. The European Court of Justice and the Devolution of Taxation Powers Suzanne Kingston12. The Impact of EU Law on the Devolution of Social Powers in the Member States Herwig Verschueren13. EU Law and Language Regulation in (Quasi-)Federal Member StatesElke Cloots and Stefan Sottiaux14. The European Court of Justice and Member State Federalism: Balancing or Categorisation? Elke Cloots15. The Impact of 'Regional Blindness' on the Italian Regional State Giuseppe Martinico16. The Spanish State Structure and EU Law: The View of the Spanish Constitutional Court Maite Zelaia Garagarza17. Economic and Monetary Union: Caught between Brussels and Luxembourg? The Influence of EU Lawon Belgian Federalism Case Law Stef Feyen