The article presents the evolution and meaning of the concept of “constitutional traditions common to the Member States” in EU law. The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) used this concept for the fi rst time in Internationale Handelsgesellschaft, in December 1970, by taking over a concept coined in 1949 for the Council of Europe. The author argues that on the whole there is only a limited added value to the concept of common cons...

The decision-making procedures of the European Union (EU) and many of its institutions, bodies and agencies operate in a mode of functional duplication (according to Georges Scelle’s concept) of the holders and agents of the executive power of the Member States, who act as organs of the States and, at the same time, of the Union. The EU functions as a form of executive federalism similar to that of Germany, with all the proble...

L’arrêt de la Cour constitutionnelle fédérale allemande contient des violations graves du droit de l’Union et est manifestement erroné. Les juges allemands refusent d’appliquer la jurisprudence de la CJUE et s’arrogent le pouvoir d’évaluer la légalité des décisions de la BCE ainsi que de contrôler raisonnement de la CJUE, qu’ils qualifient d’«inintelligible et arbitraire» dans le seul but de pouvoir le déclarer «ultra vires». Ils ut...