'In the Name of the Republic': Constitutional Courts and European Union Legitimacy
In Merle, J.-C. (ed.) Die Legitimität von supranationalen Institutionen der EU: Die Debatte in den neuen und alten Mitgliedstaaten, pp. 156-183. LIT Verlag, Berlin 2012.
17 Pages Posted: 17 Jun 2015 Last revised: 3 Aug 2015
Date Written: June 15, 2012
Abstract
Nowadays, the strong political influence of highest courts is one of the features of modern governance. While the judiciary has been largely accepted as a political actor in the American system of governance, this has been more difficult in Europe where the judiciary is still regarded as rather isolated from the other two branches of government. Discourse on the distribution of judicial competences between the European Union and the Member States shows the importance of constitutional courts, which can act as ‘providers of legitimacy’ to the European Union. For systemic reasons, the legitimizing potential of the highest courts in the ‘new’ Member States seems to be stronger than the one of the courts in the 'old' Member States. All in all, effectuating cooperative constitutionalism, the constitutional courts of the Member States, along with the Court of Justice, mutually empower and restrict each other, effecting the overall legitimacy of the system.
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