In the legal order of the European Union (EU), the values contained in Article 2 TEU define the very identity of the Union as a common legal order. The common values, which include the rule of law, are embedded in the very DNA of the European integration project. In its landmark judgment in Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses, the Court of Justice indicated the path towards defending the values contained in Article 2 TEU. Uphold...

The binding authority of the rulings rendered by the European Court of Justice is the principal reason why the preliminary ruling procedure may constitute an efficient means of enforcing EU law in general – and EU values in particular. This article explains how the preliminary ruling procedure can be used as a tool towards the enforcement of EU values. It considers who can use the procedure to this end, it examines how to create the basis for...

The article aims to provide a clear and convincing answer to several questions that have been a permanent topic of discussion since the Court of Justice delivered its judgment in case of „Portuguese judges” in 2018. If the constitutions of the member states guarantee the independence of the judiciary, is there also a need for special protection afforded by European Union law? What justification does such supranational protection have? And if ...

The contribution focuses on the way in which the comparative law method is applied by the Court of Justice of the European Union. In so doing, it is argued that method of interpretation and the constitutional traditions common to the Member States go hand-in-hand. The contribution is divided into two parts. First, the constitutional authority that enables the Court of Justice to engage in a comparative study of th...

Intellectual property rights education, protection of these rights, privacy and family life, and data protection are elements of a legal conflict. The analysis of a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-149/17 does not put Bastei Lübbe in a position to assess the consequences of file-sharing for copyright infringement. ...

The present article deals with various expressions of proportionality in the legal order of the European Union (EU). The proportionality principle originally focused on justifications put forward by the Member States when they introduced or maintained restrictions to fundamental freedoms of the internal market. However, it quickly ‘spread’ to other situations falling within the scope of EU law. The article defines what the principle...