Legitimacy in European Administrative Law

Book excerpt: Administrative law has been the object of thorough reform in various European jurisdictions. This process of transformation has considerable impacts on administrative legal scholarship in the respective countries. Profound changes in administrative activity have established new forms of administrative institutions which raise issues of legitimacy. Besides the consensus that administrative law, administrative activities, and administrative institutions have to be legitimate, the concept of legitimacy with respect to a common European framework is more than ambiguous. An analysis of the concept of legitimacy in different national legal systems promises valuable results for a discussion on the European Union level. Although the respective jurisdictions have different starting points with respect to issues of legitimacy, common sources can be detected. This is necessary in shaping and analyzing administrative law in the EU. This book comprises the results of the third workshop of the Dornburg Research Group of New Administrative Law, which took place in Paris in October 2009. The Dornburg Research Group of New Administrative Law was founded at Dornburg Castle near Jena, Germany, in 2005. Its purpose is a long-term transnational exchange of ideas between administrative law scholars from European jurisdictions.