The absolute or relative primacy of European Union Law

Survey of literature on recent judgments of constitutional courts

Authors

  • Maria Elvira Méndez-Pinedo Universidad de Islandia. Facultad de Derecho

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rdce.76.04

Abstract

In the first place, this article covers briefly the most relevant and recent judgments issued by the highest constitutional European courts in some EU Member States that criticize and defy the authority of European law. Those important rulings affect the principles of primacy, unity and effectiveness of EU law and have potential negative consequences for the judicial protection of individual rights in Europe. Secondly, the author explores the doctrine of absolute primacy of EU law as created by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and explains how some Member States’ courts have accepted this principle albeit with a relative nature (theory of constitutional reservations put forward by the school of constitutional pluralism).  Thirdly, the study offers a survey and summary of recent literature in English regarding the role of national (constitutional) courts in EU law, the European judicial dialogue and, more specifically, commenting the current wave of judicial dissent, backlash and resistance to the authority of EU law.

Published

2023-12-20