Decolonising/ re-imagining EU Law

Journal article

This article seeks to present a vision of hope for the role of law in European integration by arguing that the limits of EU integration have not been reached, but the new geo-political realities of the 21st century demonstrate that the limits of integration via a euro-centric approach to EU law have indeed been reached. It starts from the premise that European integration has historically been driven by a euro-centric world view which was entrenched in the Treaty of Rome when the imperial founder states created the idea of associationism to collectively perpetuate colonialism. However, the global challenges facing Europe and the world cannot be tackled with these euro-centric norms. Using decolonial theory, it then identifies ongoing coloniality in EU law before applying concepts from decolonial theory - in particular the concept of conviviality - to suggest how EU law can be reimagined to overcome current limitations and propose a new worldview for EU integration. I conclude that decolonial theory can help the EU reimagine the use of to furrow a different pathway in European integration that leads it closer to being the positive force in the world that it seeks to be.

Authors: Solanke, I

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Sweet and Maxwell
• Journal: European Law Review
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-20
• ISSN: 0307-5400
• Language: English