ULTRA VIRES ODLUKE SUDA EU-A: POČETAK SUDSKOG SUKOBA ILI SURADNJE

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the decisions of the highest national courts that had declared the decisions of the CJEU ultra vires, without binding effect in their countries. The same as the Czech, Danish and German courts, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia (CCRC) could deliver such a decision according to Article 129 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (CRC) and Article 104 of the Constitutional Act on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia (CACC). In the procedure, the CCRC should not only respect relevant provisions of CRC and CACC, but also the procedural rules of the CJEU, ensuring that the decision are indeed well founded and genuine. Although the CJEU’s reaction could easily be launching an infringement action against a member state whose court has delivered such a decision, the Union’s acceptance of these decisions seems to be a much more appropriate solution. Following the introductory considerations, the second part of the paper deals with the cases of the Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany, where the highest national courts have delivered such decisions. The third part of the paper researches into the CCRC’s possibilities for delivering such decisions. The research into possible reactions of the CJEU to decisions of the highest national courts declaring the CJEU decisions ultra vires is the subject of the fourth part of the paper emphasizing the decision that stands out as the most adequate in the context of constitutional dialogues between these courts and CJEU. Concluding remarks are given in the final part of the paper.