A major international textbook on EU constitutional law, it covers the structure, values, procedures, and policies of the EU. It deals with institutional issues, but also with substantive issues of major importance, including citizenship, free movement, fundamental rights, and the EU as an external actor.

Koen Lenaerts is President of the Court of Justice of the European Union and Professor of European Law at KU Leuven. He has been Legal Secretary at the Court of Justice of the European Communities, Professor at the College of Europe, member of the Brussels Bar, Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, Judge at the Court of First Instance of the European Communities, and Judge and Vice-President of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Piet Van Nuffel is a member of the Legal Service of the European Commission and Associate Professor of European Law at KU Leuven. He has held various posts within the European Commission and the Court of Justice and General Court of the European Union and has been a visiting professor at the College of Europe (Natolin).
Tim Corthaut is an auditor in the Belgian Council of State (legislative action). He is Associate Professor of European Public Law at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), and Visiting Professor of European Law at Universitat Wien (Austria).

• Part I Constituting the European Union


• 1: The Development from European Communities to European Union


• 2: The Treaty of Lisbon and the Current Treaties


• 3: Amendment of the Treaties


• 4: Accession to and Withdrawal from the European Union


• Part II Competences of the European Union


• 5: Values, Objectives, and Principles Governing the Union Competences


• 6: Citizenship of the Union


• 7: The Internal Market


• 8: The Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice


• 9: Other Areas of Union Policy


• 10: External Action of the Union


• 11: Limitations and Exceptions to the Application of the Treaties


• Part III Institutional Actors of the European Union


• 12: The Political Institutions of the Union


• 13: Other Institutions and Bodies of the Union


• 14: The Union as an International Organization


• 15: The Member States of the Union


• 16: The Relationship between the Institutional Actors


• Part IV Decision-Making in the European Union


• 17: The Legislative Procedures


• 18: The Implementation of Union Legislation


• 19: CFSP Decision-Making


• 20: The Budgetary Procedures


• 21: The Procedure for Concluding International Agreements


• 22: Decision-Making Restricted to Particular Member States


• Part V Legal Instruments of the European Union


• 23: Union Law and its Effects in the National Legal Orders


• 24: The Treaties: Primary Union Law


• 25: Fundamental Rights and General Principles of Union Law


• 26: International Law


• 27: Acts Adopted by the Institutions and Bodies of the Union


• 28: Other Sources of Union Law


• Part VI Judicial Protection in the European Union


• 29: Judicial Protection vis-a-vis Member States and Private Parties


• 30: Judicial Protection vis-a-vis the Institutions and Bodies of the Union