The particularity of the EU legal order

This contribution provides a concise examination of the notion of ‘particularity’, a concept frequently employed to convey the distinctive character of the European Union and its legal order. The history and purposes of particularity are addressed, highlighting its creating and sustaining qualities. Building on that perspective, the crucial significance of the individual within the EU’s particular rules-based system as well as, more generally, the pre-eminence of the role of law itself are emphasized as the fundamental tenets of the EU’s legal particularity. At the same time, the argument presented here challenges the perception that particularity serves as an alibi for exceptionalism, proposing instead that it encapsulates the distinctiveness of the political community governed by the EU. It is also posited that particularity embodies a continuous responsibility to develop strategies that enable the EU legal order to adapt, so that the Union can face new challenges more effectively and in a way that does not undermine the values shared by its Member States.