Court of Justice fostering the integration of Europe
| Author | Daniel Spisiak |
| Pages | 44-50 |
[2013] Sout ham pton St uden t Law Review Vol.3
44
Court of Justice Fostering the Integration of Europe
Dan iel Spisiak
This short article attem pts to critically evaluate the role of the Eur opean Court
of J ustice as the main catalyst in interpr et ation and implementation of the
European Com munity laws. The article considers the key legal doctr ines
established and d eveloped by the Eu ropean Cour t of Justice over the decades,
such as direct an d indirect effect, st ate liability, su premacy and the
preliminary rulings m echanism . This is don e by th e critical evalua tion of the
fun dam ent al decisions of t he court. In conclud ing remarks, the ar ticle
comments on the importan ce of the European Court of Justice as the main
facilitator of th e Eur opean in tegr ation .
Introduction
his article will attempt , with referen ce to the European Treaties an d th e
jur ispruden ce of the Court of Justice, to critically evaluate the role
played b y the Court of J ustice in ensur ing that in t he "int erpr etation an d
application of t he Treaties the law is observed and sufficien t remedies are
provid ed by Mem ber States to ensure effective legal protection in the field s
cover ed by Union law."1
The requirement placed on the Eu ropean Cour t of Justice (henceforth ECJ), to
ensure th at the interpretat ion and app lication of the Treat ies law is observed,
is en crypted into Article 19(1) TEU.2 The first paragraph of th e Treaty art icle is
with no doubts one of the m ost im portant pr ovisions within Title III of the
Treaty, as it could be argued that th e presen t Union law “is as mu ch the result
of the case-law of the Court as of th e text of the fou nding and the am end in g
treaties”. 3 This clearly demon st rates that the influence of t he ECJ in
obser vance an d develop ment of th e Treaties la w “has been extraord inar y.”4
Equally sign ificant is the second part of the Article 19(1) TEU which r equires
effective legal protection by pr ovidin g r em edies in the field s covered by the
Union law. Sim ilarly, as discussed in the par agraph above, it could be ar gued
that effective legal pr otection is to qu ite a large extent a result of case-law
pr oduced in Luxembour g since 1957.5
1 Art. 19, Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union (OJ 2010 C83/01).
2 Consolidated version of the Treaty on European U nion (OJ 2010 C83/01).
3 T. Tridimas, ‘The Court of Justice and judicial activism’ (1996) European Law Review 199, 199.
4 T. Tridimas, ‘The Court of Justice and judicial activism’ (1996) European Law Review 199, 199.
5 E.Frederico Mancini, ‘The Making of a Constitution for Europe’ (1989) 26 Common Market Law
Review 595, 595-596.
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