Analysis of the EU Measures Adopted in Response to Migrant Crisis: Principle of Institutional Balance and Typology of Legal Acts in the EU Revisited

Abstract

This article analyses measures that European Union adopted in response to migrant crisis, with a special emphasis on Decision 2015/1601 establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece. As Slovakia and Hungary filed actions for annulment of this Decision before Court of Justice of the European Union, their claims are taken as a starting point for the analysis. Therefore, this Decision is analyzed in the framework of the principle of institutional balance and the typology of legal acts in the EU. After the presentation of principle of institutional balance, re- search is focused on relation between the Council and European Council and European Parliament in the process of adoption of this Decision. It is concluded that the sole possible encroach upon the principle of institutional balance can be found in the Council’s neglection to reconsult the EP after the change in the initial content of the Decision (deletion of Hungary). As for the typology of acts in the EU, having in mind the process of evolution of the division between legislative and non-legislative acts, it is concluded that the main criteria for the differentiation between these two acts is the procedure in which the act is adopted and not its content, as Slovakia and Hungary claim.