Spatial Reflections of Regional Legal Treaties: A Case Study of the EU Legal Treaties

Regional treaties are set out to make regional institutions efficient and transparent, and pave the way the member states to work in harmony. From the other hand, the regional treaties legitimize every action by the regional institutions, because they are proven democratically and voluntarily by the member states. The regional treaties affect every regional space and can have some negative and positive consequences as well. The European Union is often viewed as the epitome of regional integration which has challenged most of regional studies theories. The EU has tried to base every action on treaties, because it is based on the rule of law. The EU treaties have transformed the regional space after the Second World War. This paper argues that these treaties have some positive and negative reflections on the regional space. Positive reflections of the EU treaties are as follows: regional peace and security, the establishment of a new regional identity, the establishment of a security community, development and blurring national boundaries. This paper also challenges this claim that the EU has only positive reflections and the public and the elites enjoy from the EU, equally. The sense of marginality and exclusion by some of the Europeans is also the negative reflection of the European integration.