The relationship between domestic law and European Union law in light of the case law of the court of justice concerning the constitutional identity of the member states of the EU

Abstract

The question of the relationship between domestic law and the law of the European integration has been one of the major issues in the doctrine of EU law and in the doctrine of domestic law within the Member States since the first years of the European process. Although, after the affirmation of the Principle of primacy in the case law of the Court of Justice, this issue was generally considered clarified, the introduction of an explicit requirement to respect the national identity of the Member States by the Maastricht Treaty and the possible manifestations of this requirement, associated with basic elements of the national constitutional framework, has once again raised the question of what the consequences of the Principle of primacy of the EU law over domestic law are and to what extent this principle, defining the effect of the law of the European integration system on domestic law, can be derogated or limited in view of respecting the national identity of a Member State within its constitutional dimensions.

Insofar as different views have been developed regarding the nature and consequences of what has been provided as a requirement to respect the national identity of the Member States in Art. 4, para. 2 TEU, the purpose of this study is to clarify the exact content of the obligations to respect the national identity of the Member States of the European integration system in light of the case law of the Court of Justice. In particular, it aims to answer the question of what specific manifestations this requirement has in relation to the national constitutional framework and whether its inclusion in the primary law of European Union leads to a revision of the established relationship between domestic law and the law of European integration?

By a careful reading of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union this study will prove that the provision in Art. 4, para. 2 TEU does not limit the primacy of the EU law over domestic law, and instead it creates a new explicit basis, allowing to limit the application of the rules of the EU law in a case specifically provided by the Founding Treaties.

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