TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Politics > European Court of Justice Question
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.
