Two different dynamics govern the autonomy of the European Union (EU) legal order. On the one hand, autonomy seeks to define what EU law is not, i.e. it is not ordinary international law. Positively, on the other, autonomy seeks to define what EU law is, i.e. a legal order that has the capacity to operate as a self-referential system of norms that is both coherent and complete. Yet the concept of autonomy of the EU legal order in no...

The autonomy of EU law is governed by two different, albeit intertwined, dynamics. Negatively, autonomy seeks to defi ne what EU law is not, i.e it is not ordinary international law. Positively, autonomy seeks to define what EU law is, i.e. an autonomous legal order that has the capacity to operate as a self-sufficient system of norms. That said, it is submitted that the concept of autonomy of EU law in no way conveys the message th...