General Principles and Fundamental Rights Review in the Common Foreign and Security Policy after KS and KD v Council et al.: A Missed Opportunity for the Rule of Law

The article critically reviews the state of play of judicial review in the CFSP after the Grand Chamber judgment of 10 September 2024 in KS and KD. The decision creates a potential pathway to closing some gaps in fundamental rights protection in the CFSP and, thus, advances judicial protection. However, the CJEU also missed an opportunity to constitutionalise the EU legal order by articulating a principled approach to judicial review in the CFSP based on EU core values. General principles of EU law could have assisted the Court in developing such a principled constitutional approach because of their specific characteristics and functions: as gap-fillers and as enhancing coherence and legitimacy when developing the EU legal order.