Looking at Article 2 TEU, this contribution considers that there is an external and an internal crisis of values: the former referring to challenges to EU values coming from individual Member States which prioritize their own agendas and the latter referring to the tension between a liberal and more solidarity-driven understanding of the EU’s foundations as it stems from the very wording of Article 2 TEU. In an attempt to unpack solidarity and...

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...

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 article deals with the implications that the values of the European Union have for the Member States, bearing in mind the central place of these values, listed in Article 2 TEU, in the European legal order. Among these values, the rule of law is the backbone of the modern democratic society. Courts of law – as independent arbitrators – are the guardians of the rule of law. Given the central role of national courts in the EU’s constitution...