Supremacy of Eu Law
Supremacy/ Primacy of European Union Law
Introduction:
State sovereignty and supremacy of European Union law are traditionally seen as fundamentally opposite in nature. The rights of states to deal with national issues internally, in compliance with national law, versus the obligation on states to subordinate national law to Community law.
Where it is contained:
Historically the EEC treaty contained no provision dealing with the concept of supremacy of Community law over the national law of member states. In fact, treaties were generally silent as to the nature of the relationship between EU law and national law except for a general obligation contained in article 4 (3) TEU which states:-
“‘Pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties.
The Member States shall take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union.
The Member States shall facilitate the achievement of the Union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union's objectives.’
The concept of Supremacy is now, however, contained in declaration 17 within the Treaty of Lisbon. The declaration is not a formal provision and has no binding basis within the treaty due to the dropping of the proposed provision at the behest of the European Council in 2007, largely due to the controversial reception by member states of the ambiguous provision. Declaration 17 provides that:
“In accordance with well settled case law of the court of justice, the treaties and law adopted by the union on the basis of treaties have primacy over the law of Member States, under conditions laid down by the said case law”
Development of concept:
Since no formal provision was contained within the treaties concerning the
Introduction:
State sovereignty and supremacy of European Union law are traditionally seen as fundamentally opposite in nature. The rights of states to deal with national issues internally, in compliance with national law, versus the obligation on states to subordinate national law to Community law.
Where it is contained:
Historically the EEC treaty contained no provision dealing with the concept of supremacy of Community law over the national law of member states. In fact, treaties were generally silent as to the nature of the relationship between EU law and national law except for a general obligation contained in article 4 (3) TEU which states:-
“‘Pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties.
The Member States shall take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union.
The Member States shall facilitate the achievement of the Union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union's objectives.’
The concept of Supremacy is now, however, contained in declaration 17 within the Treaty of Lisbon. The declaration is not a formal provision and has no binding basis within the treaty due to the dropping of the proposed provision at the behest of the European Council in 2007, largely due to the controversial reception by member states of the ambiguous provision. Declaration 17 provides that:
“In accordance with well settled case law of the court of justice, the treaties and law adopted by the union on the basis of treaties have primacy over the law of Member States, under conditions laid down by the said case law”
Development of concept:
Since no formal provision was contained within the treaties concerning the