AUSTRIAN PRESIDENCY: SCHUSSEL ACCUSES EU COURT OF EXTENDING COMMUNITY LAW INTO NEW AREAS.

Speaking in an interview with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung on December 31, Mr Schussel said that the role of the court needed to be rethought because in recent years it had "systematically extended European competences into areas where there was decidedly no European law". He cited the examples of rulings concerning the role of women in the German army and the access of non-Austrian students to Austrian universities. "These are clear cases of national law", he said.

Mr Schussel said there was a particular problem when the court took decisions with retroactive effect. He questioned why the EU's highest law courts did not seem to apply the proportionality test which national courts used or the subsidiarity principle (under which decisions are taken at the lowest possible level of government). This prevented people "sneaking a centralising element into national law", he said. He suggested an extra level to give legitimacy to the court's behaviour although he did not specify whether this would be formally ascribed to the EU's other institutions such as the Council and Parliament.

The Chancellor's comments come amid increasing expressions of concern at judgements by the court, especially in the area of taxation policy. In a ruling on a case brought by UK retailer Marks and Spencer against the UK Treasury (finance ministry), the ECJ decided that a ban by the UK tax authorities on companies offsetting losses in other member states against their UK tax liability infringed companies' freedom to operate in other EU states. The new German coalition government has also expressed concern about recent decisions of the court, echoing Mr Schussel's complaints about extension of the EU's powers over national governments.

Sound and vision.

The Austrian Chancellor called for a discussion on the role of the European Court of Justice as part of the ongoing debate on the...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT