1. European Union Law
WEEK 6

2. EU Law
SUPREMACY

3. EU Law Outline Supremacy from the ECJ’s perspective
Foundation
Relation with Direct Effect
Application
Impact on National Law
Supremacy under the Constitutional Treaty and Lisbon Treaty
Supremacy from the Perspective of MS

4. Supremacy from the ECJ’s perspective
EU Law
Supremacy from the ECJ’s perspective

5. EU Law
Foundations

6. EU Law
“The conclusion to be drawn from this is that the Community constitutes a new legal order of international law for the benefit of which the states have limited their sovereign rights, albeit within limited fields, and the subjects of which comprise not only Member States but also their nationals.” Van Gend en Loos, ECJ Case 26/62

7. EU Law EU Law – Van Gend en Loos is an autonomous legal order
is distinct from international and national law
has its own logic in relation to supremacy over the law of the Member States

8. EU Law Foundations – Developed by the ECJ
“It follows from all these observations that the law stemming from the Treaty, an independent source of law, could not, because of its special and original nature, be overridden by domestic legal provisions, however framed, without being deprived of its character as Community law and without the legal basis of the Community itself being called into question.
The transfer by the States from their domestic legal system the law stemming from the Treaty, an independent source of law, could to the Community legal system of the rights and obligations arising under the Treaty carries with it a permanent limitation of their sovereign rights, against which a subsequent unilateral act incompatible with the concept of the Community cannot prevail. Consequently Article 177 is to be applied regardless of any domestic law, when ever questions relating to the interpretation of the Treaty arise.”
Costa v. ENEL, ECJ Case 6/64

9. EU Law
Supremacy: Community law takes priority over all conflicting provisions of national law whether passed before or after the Community measure in question.

10. EU Law Arguments for Supremacy Contractarian argument
Functional argument
Analytical argument

11. Relation with Direct Effect
EU Law
Relation with Direct Effect

12. EU Law Distinction between the two concepts Principle v. Effect
Pre-Lisbon relation
Incidental horizontal effect

13. EU Law
Application

14. EU Law Supremacy as a Principle Applicable to all National Law
Place of Community Law in the hierarchy of norms
Applicability within the limits of Direct Effect

15. EU Law Supremacy in time National Laws that Post-date EU Law
National Laws that Pre-date EU Law

16. EU Law Application of Supremacy by National Bodies
Constitutional Courts
National Courts
Administrative Agencies

17. EU Law
Impact on National Law

18. EU Law Impact on National Law Inapplicability of National Law
Inapplicability of National Judicial Decisions
Principle of Res Judicata and the domestic rules of procedure

19. Supremacy under the Constitutional Treaty and Lisbon Treaty
EU Law
Supremacy under the Constitutional Treaty and Lisbon Treaty

20. EU Law
Constitutional Treaty  “primacy over the law of the Member States”
Lisbon Treaty – Declaration 17 Concerning Primacy
“It follows (…) that the law stemming from the treaty, an independent source of law, could not, because of its special and original nature, be overridden by domestic legal provisions, however framed, without being deprived of its character as Community law and without the legal basis of the Community itself being called into question.”

21. Supremacy from the Perspective of Member States
EU Law
Supremacy from the Perspective of Member States

22. EU Law Does the MS accept the supremacy of EU Law?
On which conceptual basis does the MS accord supremacy to EU Law?
Does the national legal order place limits on the acceptance EU Law supremacy?
Who has ultimate authority to define the allocation of competence between the EU and the Member States? (Kompetenz-Kompetenz issue)