On the Relationship between EU Law and Member State Law: From the Principle of Primacy to the Doctrine of Counter-limits

Abstract

Within the EU there exist two bodies of law, EU Law and Member State law, and in the relationship between the two, the European Court of Justice has established in practice the primacy of EU Law through the principle of direct effect and the principle of priority. With the continuous development of EU Law, some EU countries have established the doctrine of counter-limits in order to protect the inalienable national sovereignty and the fundamental principles of their constitutions. In the Czech Republic, the principle of the primacy of EU Law was implemented in the European Arrest Warrant case by the "EU-friendly" method of constitutional interpretation; in the Czechoslovak Pensions case for the first time, a specific decision of the European Court of Justice was declared to be ultra vires, giving effect to the doctrine of counter-limits.