Appearing at a time when the ancient problem of the individual versus the state once again occupies the minds of thinking Europeans, this important new book thoroughly evaluates the judicial system of the European Union, fully describing the nature of the judicial protection available to individuals, undertakings, and member States. With attention to the rapid and continuing development of the Community legal order, Schermers and Waelbroeck provide a much-needed perspective on the reasoning of the European Court of Justice in significant decisions, especially recent cases, and shed revealing light on how the rule of law may develop in future. An introductory chapter offers a masterful description of how Treaty provisions, Community acts, international law, and national legal orders interact in the procedures and decisions of the Court of Justice. Further chapters provide analysis and insight into such matters as the following: the crucial role of national courts as guarantors of the rights of individuals in Community law the validity of acts taken by Community institutions and member States, and protection against them the delivery of non-judicial opinion and other tasks of the Court of Justice the composition, function, and rules of procedure of the Court the organisation of the Court of First Instance and the appeal procedure against its decisions. Judicial Protection in the European Union is organised to facilitate its prodigious reference value. All important cases are examined, and abundant footnotes clearly indicate relevant precedents in each case. This is a fundamental source for students of European law, as well as a basic reference for practitioners and a valuable analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European system of judicial protection.

I. Purpose of the book § 1. The Court of Justice plays a significant role in the development of the European Communities, to some extent comparable with the role of the Supreme Court in the early years of the United States of America. Both are constitutional courts charged with the preservation and the development of the law in a new society. The powers of both are in fact limited by the 1 existing political situation. Each court plays a vital role in the protection of the individual against a vast and increasingly influential administration. In the present book the attempt is made to describe the nature of the ju dicial protection within the sphere of European Community law, that is available to individuals and undertakings as well as to the Member States. The study is heavily based on the case-law of the Court of Justice, which in principle is described rather than criticized, mainly for three reasons. (I) The author has great admiration for the Court of Justice and for the manner in which it operates. He considers that a detailed description of the Court's case-law portrays a fine legal system that is not susceptible to a great amount of fundamental criticism.

The development of the judicial control of the European Communities is perhaps best illustrated by comparing the first decision the Court of Justice rendered in December 1954, under the ECSC Treaty, with its preliminary rulings van Gend & Loos (1962), ENEL (1964) and Simmenthal II (1978) rendered under the EEC Treaty. In the first case the Court quashed a decision of the High Authority impugned by an annulment action of a Member State for an illegal exercise of Community powers - a judicial control which at the time already represented a spectacular legal in novation introduced by the ECSC Treaty. At that time the Court was, for evident reasons, still reserved as to its role within the unprecedented institutional structure of the Community. In van Gend, ENEL and Simmenthal II, on the other hand, the Court resolutely pursued a judicial policy intended to ensure an effective operation of the Community legal order, a problem hardly envisaged in 1954. In these rulings the Court characterized the emerging legal order and stated its fundamental and indispensable requirements: the unlimited supremacy of Community law and its direct effect. The development of a superior and autonomous Community legal order was finally completed by the Court's recognition of fundamental Communiry rights of individuals. This development from an initially reserved stand of the Court searching for its proper role and its potentialities to a bold and determined judicial policy is truly remarkable.

The preliminary reference procedure under Article 267 TFEU is the keystone of the EU judicial system and its legal order. Based on a dialogue between the Court of Justice and national courts, it is strictly linked to the protection of the rights that individuals derive from EU law. This book focuses on this procedure from the perspective of the right to effective judicial protection, in light of Article 19(1), second subparagraph, TEU and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. It explores the level of protection that is ensured to individuals in order to access to the Court of Justice through preliminary references on the validity of EU acts and on the interpretation of EU law. The book offers a threefold perspective on preliminary references, through an analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice itself, of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Article 6(1) ECHR, and of the constitutional courts of Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, where the national courts’ refusals to refer can lead to the violation of national constitutional rights. It further investigates the obligations for Member States and national courts in the framework of the preliminary reference procedure and how the right to effective judicial protection affects them. The examination outlines the implications that could flow from the recognition of a right for individuals to have a question referred to the ECJ, as part of the right to effective judicial protection under EU law, in particular its nature and its enforcement. Building upon the existing system of sanctions for the violations of the obligation to submit a preliminary question, the book advances some proposals to rethink the current system of remedies.