Allmänna rättsprincipers framväxt och påverkan inom EU - En uppsats om principerna med fokus på proportionalitet, rätten till försvar och offentlighet

General principles of law can be defined as a legal foundation with the function of codifying basic values. They can also be of a character, which makes them useful as supplement and interpretation of law. EU has developed principles of law that can be divided into general and special. Within the Union there are existences of around twenty general ones. A further separation can be made in terms of institutional and individual. The first ones concern the relation between the Community institutions and member states and the individual ones are between the Union and the citizens of the member states. In the essay we have chosen to focus on three general principles. These are the principles of proportionality, rights of defence and transparency. The interesting aspect is the fact that they have emerged during different time periods and also affect various areas within the Community. Furthermore it can be said that proportionality, which is the oldest one, has been permanent settled during its existence. Rights of defence with its subprinciples were developed during the 70´s, to be followed by principle of transparency around the millennium. General principles can be told to be legal foundations which descent from the legal cultures of the member states. They have however been adjusted by the European Court of Justice to be able to conform as codified rules of law into the Community. These in conjunction with the fact that the ECJ have shown great will to apply these principles in their reasoning, give them a strong position in our society. As method of analysis we have chosen to use a so-called SWOT-analysis. This form of method, which is traditionally used within economic areas, makes it easy to structure and handle material. It consists of four parts: strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. It makes it possible to investigate a principle both profoundly and widely, with a good instrument of evaluation. With this method of structure one is then given the opportunity to make conclusions on a more basic ground