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Abstract:
The present paper aims to explore the boundaries of EU law following the Lisbon Treaty with specific regard to the internal market. Over fifty years since its inception, the underlying promise of the creation of an internal market remains a key parameter to test the progress of European integration. A constituent aspect of the European legislative agenda, the exact boundaries of a continually developing internal market have to date remained fluid and contested. This is readily exemplified by considering a provision situated at its heart, Article 95 EC, which enables Community institutions to adopt measures intended to promote the establishment and functioning of the internal market. It is notable that, despite initital suggestions to this effect, the pivotal Article 95 EC has been little altered by the Lisbon negotiations. Article 95 EC represents an important constitutional compromise between the ever-increasing Community competences and the regulatory autonomy of Member States, as well as between the often-conflicting interests of economic progress and welfare protection. This study will revise the complex Article 95 EC paradigm and outline some of the possible challenges facing this fundamental field in the aftermath of the Lisbon Treaty. Revisiting one of the historical objectives of the European integration project would not only be conducive to greater determinacy in this specific field, but could offer a basis for a broader discussion of what values should characterise the European Union going forward. As the challenges following Lisbon are crystallising, there wuld appear to be no better time to revisit the strategy to be adopted in the continued pursuit of the effective establishment and functioning of the internal market.
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