Constitutional Supremacy: National Constitutions vs. European Law

Abstract

CESAA 18TH ANNUAL EUROPE ESSAY COMPETITION 2010 - Postgraduate winner: Vanessa McGlynn, University of New South Wales

Almost 50 years after the European Court of Justice clearly established the supremacy of Community law, the question regarding the primacy of law within the European context remains unresolved. By exploring the perspectives of the ECJ and the German Federal Constitutional Court, this article seeks to outline the controversies relating to constitutional supremacy and analyses the theoretical underpinnings of this difference. It will be suggested that by focussing only on select liberal democratic principles, each court not only constructs their respective claims to supremacy, but they do so in opposition to each other. Thus rather than creating constitutional integration throughout the European Union, the supremacy discourse has created fault lines along which further tension may arise. By drawing on Kumm’s theory this paper will conclude by suggesting an alternative lens through which such conflicts may be resolved.