Legislative, delegated acts, comitology and interinstitutional conundrum in EU law – configuring EU normative spaces

This article seeks to contribute to The Conference on the Future of Europe by arguing that its debates on substantive policies and democratic foundations cannot be detached from consideration being given to the configuration of the Union's normative spaces in which those policies will be developed and implemented. In its current stage of development, we can find in the Union legal system two competing conceptions for the configuration of its different normative spaces, one that relies on the Member States for resources and legitimacy and another that intends to free itself from those constraints. This article will argue that a uniquely European model of governance will benefit from the integration of both conceptions in the configuration of its normative spaces, not only where they are provided for by the Union Treaties but also where they have developed in the shadow of those official spaces, which they complement and increasingly supplant.