Supremacy of EU Law over National Legislation and Supreme Jurisdictions of the Member States – a Quest for a New Balance

Abstract

: The principle of the supremacy of EU law over national legislation is crucial for the viability of the Union’s legal order, but also for the safeguard of some basic democratic values within the Member States themselves. Despite its global acceptance, some national courts of final instance keep challenging this principle, invoking complex reasoning that often includes multiple grounds for its refusal. Using mainly a content analysis of the case-law and comparative legal method, the paper examines the possibility of a new balance between the principle of the supremacy of EU law and the specificities of national legal orders. The preconditions for striking this new balance are threefold. First, the national courts should apply the concept of constitutional identity more carefully and in a more restrictive manner. Second, the EU law itself has to be formulated in better and clearer terms, as a result of a less cumbersome legislative process. Finally, without a less hesitant common approach of the European political elites in reforming its functioning, the weaknesses of the Union’s institutional and decision-making architecture would continue to undermine its legal system.