Impeachment as an EU Law Concept

Abstract This article is the first panoramic survey of the various, idiosyncratic procedures relating to the removal for cause of EU institutional officeholders scattered throughout the Union’s primary and secondary law. After describing these provisions, the article argues that these procedures may be considered as impeachment. The article then examines the character of EU impeachment, concluding that it is conceptualised narrowly as addressing individual misbehaving officers, rather than as a means to address wider, systemic, policy-based threats to the EU and its values. The article also offers some observations regarding defects in the EU’s current impeachment provisions and suggests possible reforms.