Tomi Tuominen, The Composite European Constitution and National Courts.

The European Union has a composite constitution, that is, that the constitutional norms of the EU and those of the Member States must be understood and studied as a whole. These two normative levels are in constant interaction. The defining feature of this relationship is constitutional pluralism. Basing on an analysis of the events surrounding the Eurozone crisis, this Chapter analyses the relationship between national courts and the European Court of Justice. What emerges, is a critique of European constitutional pluralism. The argument is twofold. First, that national courts are not the best sources of legitimacy and that they actually were constrained by a predicament when adjudicating on the various Eurozone crisis response measures. Second, that the national courts are in an unequal position what comes to their possibility to affect the European level political process. These differences also make it possible for some of them to derail this process.

The paper will be discussed by: Professor Gábor Halmai

On Wednesday, March 15th from 16:30 to 18:00 in Sala del Camino in Salviati

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