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Contents 1 WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ECJ AND IN WHAT WAYS DOES IT RESTRICT NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY? 1.1 Intro (functions) 1.2 Sovereignty 1.3 Conclusion 2 Comments

WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ECJ AND IN WHAT WAYS DOES IT RESTRICT NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY?

Intro (functions)

• The ECJ based in Luxembourg comprises of one judge from each member state, who sit for 6 years.
• The main role of the ECJ is to interpret the various EU laws and treaties to ensure all member states comply with them.
• Settle disputes between countries and where disagreement of the meanings of the treaties takes place.
• Plays a great role in the protection of EU citizen’s rights and can find a state or EU institution guilty of failing to meet EU rights laws or acting as required of them.

Sovereignty

• As the supreme court of the EU, the ECJ is a supranational body, which raises concerns within member countries of its power and thus infringement on national sovereignty.
• The ECJ has the ability to overrule domestic laws and place fines on those who fail to comply to deter non conforming.
• It is thus sovereign in this respect.

However

• The extent of the ECJ’s power, like any other institution is not infallible.
• Whilst the ECJ may find a country guilty of failure to comply with EU law and issue fines, ultimately the country concerned may fail to take action.
• Some member states may prefer to pay the fine than face the heavier cost of complying and some may chose to do neither.
• E.g. the ECJ was powerless to end the French ban on British Beef for many months. Showing that sovereignty of the ECJ is not always respected

Conclusion

• The overall main functions of the ECJ are that it is the guardian of EU citizen’s rights as well as the enforcer of EU law.
• It is respected for its representative and democratic nature, in that the Judiciary is separated from Parliament.
• Its supranational nature means that it must take sovereign decisions for the good of the EU as a whole, however, the extent of its power to do so remains under question.

Comments

These notes are aimed at people studying for Edexcel A Level Government and Politics, unit 4A.

Originally submitted by shes_ellectric on TSR Forums.