Written By: Clémence Chieze
Supervised By: Ricarda Hennies
Edited By: Alexandra Huggins
ABSTRACT
This article examines the European Parliament’s challenge to the SAFE regulation and uses it to assess the limits of Article 122(1) TFEU in EU defence policy. It argues that SAFE lies between emergency solidarity and ordinary industrial policy: although its objectives resemble Article 173 TFEU, its adoption under Article 122 reflects the Union’s wider move toward crisis-driven governance in response to the war in Ukraine. The article analyses the conditions for using Article 122, including urgency, exceptionality, temporariness, and solidarity, and questions whether an ordinary legislative basis should have been preferred. It concludes that the Court of Justice is likely to uphold SAFE, while the case also highlights the growing normalisation of emergency procedures and the resulting strain on parliamentary involvement.
