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The Application of European Law in the New Member States: Several (Early) Predictions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Zdeněk Kühn

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After the EU Enlargement of 2004, the law courts of the new Member States now fulfill a twofold role of applying both national and European law. The application of European law also entails the duty of judges to construe their own domestic law as close as possible with EU law, and, if that is not possible, the duty arises to set aside the domestic law found to be incompatible with European law. In consequence, developments in the next decade will test judges’ capacity for properly applying European law and this process will inevitably present a serious challenge to the Central European judicial systems. While evaluations can first be made no sooner than a few years after the EU Enlargement, there are important indications that can suggest the probable outcome of that challenge. This article briefly outlines the application of European law in those countries prior to EU Enlargement and then deals with the important factors which are likely to influence its future application in the new Member States.

Type
Articles
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , 01 March 2005 , pp. 563 - 582
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 Attila Harmathy, now a Justice of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, estimates that between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 1997, 894 acts of Parliament, 1635 governmental regulations, and 2331 ministerial decrees were passed in Hungary. These rules filled a full 51,104 pages of the official law gazette. In the same period the Constitutional Court published 501 decisions. Attila Harmathy, Codification In a Period of Transition, 31 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 783, 790 (1998). For a sophisticated view by a Justice of the Czech Constitutional Court (in 2003 reappointed to the bench), see Pavel Holländer, The Judge Today: A Barrier to a Postmodern Deconstruction or an Industrial Factory for Decision-Making?, in Systems Of Justice In Transition. Central European Experiences Since 1989 (Jiří Priban/Pauline Roberts/James Young eds., 2003), pp. 77–93.Google Scholar

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36 The decision quoted Decision of May 31, 2004, K 15/04 supra note 34, at para. 10.Google Scholar

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