Keywords
EU judicial system
broadening of the scope of Union law
primacy and direct effect of EU law
fundamental rights
How to Cite
Number of views: 256
Number of downloads: 167
Abstract
Since its establishment in the early 1950s, the European Court of Justice, seated in Luxembourg, has played a key role in managing and developing the European integration architecture. Yet, with subsequent developments, the Luxembourg Court appears to have gained even more importance, particularly in the constitutionalization of the European integration process. Today, this has reached such an extent that one can ask whether all roads lead to Luxembourg rather than to the political EU institutions in Brussels and beyond, or to the capitals of the EU Member States. The present paper, based on an annual lecture in honour of Professor and Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski, seeks to provide examples of areas where the case law of the Court has been particularly consequential and to explain why the Court has become more influential. However, the paper concludes by arguing that the role of the Court should not be overstated and that, in any case, its enhanced role is explained by many constitutional and legislative developments beyond the control of the Court itself. Moreover, the reader will be reminded that the Union’s judicial system is not limited to the two Union Courts (the Court of Justice and the General Court) but that its backbone is formed by the national courts of the Member States.
References
Belavusau, U., & Henrard, K. (Eds.). (2019). EU anti-discrimination law beyond gender. Hart Publishing.
Blockmans, S., & Koutrakos, P. (Eds.). (2018). Research handbook on the EU’s common foreign and security policy. Edward Elgar. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785364082
Butler, G., & Wessel, R. (Eds.). (2022). EU external relations law: The cases in context. Hart Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509939725
de Toqueville, A. (1835/2012). Democracy in America (vol. 1, E. Nolla, ed., J. T. Schleifer, trans.). Liberty Fund, Online Library of Liberty, Part I, Chapter 8, Indianapolis, 2012.
Kuijper, P. J., Wouters, J., Hoffmeister, F., de Baere, G., & Th. Ramopoulos (2013). The law of EU external relations: Cases, materials, and commentary on the EU as an international legal actor. Oxford University Press.
Lelup, M., & Spieker, L. D. (2024). Rethinking primacy’s effects: On creating, avoiding and filling legal vacuums in the national legal system. Common Market Law Review, 61(4), 913–958. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54648/COLA2024064
Paasivirta, E., & Rosas, A. (2002). Sanctions, countermeasures and related actions in the external relations of the EU: A search for legal frameworks. In E. Cannizzaro (Ed.), The European Union as an actor in international relations (pp. 207–218). Kluwer Law International.
Pech, L., & Kochenov, D. (2021). Respect for the rule of law in the case law of the European Court of Justice: A casebook overview of key judgments since the Portuguese judges case. Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies.
Pohjankoski, P. (2016). Federal coercion and national constitutional identity in the United States 1776–1861. American Journal of Legal History, 56(3), 326–358. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajlh/njw007
Pohjankoski, P. (2024). Union without a sword: Federal coercion and the emergence of Europe’s Constitution. University of Helsinki.
Rosas, A. (2012). The national judge as EU judge. In P. Cardonnel, A. Rosas & N. Wahl (Eds.), Constitutionalising the EU judicial system (pp. 105–121). Hart Publishing.
Rosas, A. (2013). The applicability of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights at national level. European Yearbook on Human Rights, 13, 97–112.
Rosas, A. (2017a). The European Union and fundamental rights/human rights: Vanguard or villain? Adam Mickiewicz University Law Review, 7, 7–24. [Also published as A Solidarity and Human Rights Lecture, University of Gdansk, 2017.] DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/ppuam.2017.7.01
Rosas, A. (2017b). Recent case-law of the European Court of Justice to Article 218 TFEU. In J. Czuczai & F. Naert (Eds.), The EU as a global actor: Bridging legal theory and practice (pp. 363–379). Brill/Nijhoff. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004347175_017
Rosas, A. (2023a). Democracy and the rule of law: Odd bedfellows or Siamese twins? In A. Rosas, J. Raitio & P. Pohjankoski (Eds.), The rule of law’s anatomy in the EU: Foundations and protections (pp. 11–28). Hart Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509955107.ch-002
Rosas, A. (2023b). From freezing to compensating Russian assets. European Law Review, 48(3), 337–347.
Rosas, A. (2023c). The rule of law and judicial independence: Recent EU developments and case law of the European Court of Justice. In Ph. B. Donath, A. Heger, M. Malkmus & O. Bayrak (Eds.), Der Schutz des Individuums durch das Recht: Festschrift für Rainer Hofmann zum 70. Geburtstag (vol. 2). Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66978-5_60
Rosas, A. (2024a). EU law and national law: A common legal system. AEL Working Paper 2024/01 (Academy of European Law of the European University Institute), 54–56.
Rosas, A. (2024b). National courts and the CJEU: A common judicial system. In A. Heger and & M. Malkmus (Eds.), On the relation between the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and national fundamental rights (pp. 35–49). Springer Verlag. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52685-5_3
Rosas, A. (2025). Application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights at national level: One more step towards a federal structure. In J. Brohée & L. Stapper (Eds.), La justice en transition: vers une Union européenne solidaire et durable. Monographie en l’honneur de Monsieur le juge Arabadijev. Bruylant. (forthcoming)
Rosas, A., & Armati, L. (2018). EU constitutional law: An introduction (3rd rev. ed.). Hart Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509909179
License
Copyright (c) 2025 WPiA UAM
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.