Limiting the ‘Counter-limits’: National Constitutional Courts and the scope of the primacy of EU law

This paper examines in a comparative perspective the jurisprudence of several EU Member States’ constitutional courts concerning the limits of the primacy of EU law. It aims to demonstrate that significant similarities can be found in this body of case law and, drawing from these similarities, it proposes some guidelines for a cooperative and loyal exercise of constitutional review of EU law. If duly circumscribed, constitutional courts’ power to declare an act of the EU inapplicable within the concerned Member State does not jeopardize the primacy and the uniform application of EU law. Instead, it enhances the guarantees of fundamental rights and the rule of law in the EU, contributing to the creation of a European legal space where common values are cherished while national peculiarities are respected.