The Principle of Priority of European Union Law. Selected Issues

Abstract

The principle of priority (primacy) means priority of the applicability of EU law over national law of the Member States. From the point of view of the European Union, this principle applies to all national rules of the Member States, regardless of their place in the hierarchy of legal sources, including constitutional provisions. Such an approach, which essentially means unconditional primacy of EU law over national law, was not confirmed in the judgments of the majority of the constitutional courts of the Member States. Thereby, the Court of Justice of the EU, recognizing the need for “constructive dialogue” with the courts of the Member States, introduced some techniques which allow the coexistence of the EU and national legal rules. In particular, in its recent case law, the Court considered the protection of national identities of the Member States as a justification of the limitation of the scope of the applicability of the principle of priority. Thus the Court allowed the requirement of the protection of national identities made the hitherto absolute principle of primacy relative principle, which allows in certain circumstances the possibility of invoking by the Member States their constitutional values in order to withdraw from the priority of the applicability of EU law.