Autonomous but interdependent: Constitutional traditions on judicial protection and the general principle of effective judicial protection

Abstract

The EU general principle of effective judicial protection is the epitome of the EU liberal-constitutionalism. The creative force of this principle has emerged, among others, in connection with the protection of the rule of law and the introduction of procedural guarantees both at the national and EU level. It is well established that effective judicial protection stems from the ECHR and the constitutional traditions common to the Member States. While existing scholarship has explored the influence of the ECHR over the development of this principle, less attention was paid to the impact of constitutional traditions from the Member States. Yet, exploring the role of constitutional traditions in shaping effective judicial protection, the primus inter pares among the general principles of EU law, goes at the heart of the conundrum of the EU: the latter is an autonomous legal system, which is inevitably shaped by the legal concepts and traditions existing in the Member States. This exploration is particularly timely. Some Member States affected by the rule-of-law backsliding have recently invoked constitutional traditions on judicial protection to delimit the application of EU standards of effective judicial protection, thus questioning the relationship between the EU principle and national conceptions of judicial protection.