Between Law and Politics: Enforcing European Values Before the CJEU

This article examines how the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) enforces the values in Article 2 TEU through its recent case law, particularly in infringement proceedings. While Article 2 TEU sets out binding legal norms, this article argues that their enforcement by the CJEU is only legitimate when tied to the material scope of EU law. The CJEU’s approach – especially since the ASJP ruling – is best understood as a doctrinally constrained method of interpreting existing obligations, not as a basis for autonomous value enforcement. The article identifies four conditions that must be met: a concrete link to EU law, a clearly defined legal obligation in primary or secondary law, limits on expanding the substance of legal norms through values, and interpretation based on the shared constitutional traditions of the Member States. The article concludes that using Article 2 TEU as an independent legal basis would breach the principle of conferral and bypass the political enforcement mechanism laid down in Article 7 TEU.