The Impact of EU Law on National Legal Frameworks

The presented paper focuses on the complex correlation between European Union and the national legal systems of its member states. It examines the fundamental principles that underpin this relationship, and considers how they are playing out in different national contexts. The due emphasis on the EU Law primacy principle in cases of conflicts with national laws, which has far reaching legal and political ramifications in a multi-level governance system, including its challenges to national sovereignty and the impact they create legally and politically. The presented study examines how national constitutional courts in member states have differed in their interpretation of this principle and highlights the delicate balance they registered between setting EU obligations on one hand and safeguarding national constitutional identities on the other. The paper explains the idea of direct effect and the distinctions between vertical and horizontal direct effect as well as their evolution over time and constraints. The debates also underscore the fragmented nature of domestic courts in implementing direct effect, resulting in disparate measures and outcomes for individuals trying to rely on EU rights. The paper also assesses the implications of both of these systemic principles, covered in European treatment as the proportionality principle. The analysis highlights the continued negotiation of power between supranational and national legal systems, and the importance of national courts in interpreting both sets of laws, as well as in their application on the ground.