Supremacy of the European Union law over national law of the member states

• Pages: 290-296

Vol. 7 No. 1

March, 2021

Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-3918

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

290

Supremacy of the European Union law over national law of the member

states

Erlis Hereni

Legal Advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Government of Albania

Aldo Shkëmbi

Aorney at Law, A-SH legal Studio

Abstract

The autonomy of the EU legal system is of fundamental importance to the EU, because it is the

only guarantee that the EU will not lose in terms of strength or eciency, when overlapping

with the national law of the member states since the EU legal system and the national legal

system are interrelated and interdependent. The aspect of the relationship between EU

law and the national law of the member states includes those areas where the two systems

complement each other. Article 4 (3) of the TEU clearly denes that: ‘‘According to the principle

of sincere cooperation, the Union and the Member States shall assist one another with mutual

respect in carrying out the obligations arising from the Treaties. Member States shall take the

necessary measures, whether general or specic, to ensure compliance with the obligations

arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union. Member

States shall facilitate the fullment of such obligations of the Union and shall refrain from any

measures which could jeopardize the achievement of the objectives of the Union. However, the

relationship between EU law and the domestic law of the member states is also characterized

by the occasional ‘clash’ or conict between the EU legal system and that of the domestic

one. Such a situation always arises when a provision of the Union law transfers rights and

imposes obligations directly on EU citizens while its content conicts with the domestic law

of the Member States. From this point of view, the problem that arises and is analysed in the

given paper is the direct applicability of EU law and its supremacy over the internal law of the

member states, as the conict between EU law and internal law is resolved only if one gives

priority to the other, as long as the EU legislation does not contain clear provisions on this

issue.

Keywords: European Union (EU), Treaty, Autonomy, domestic law, community members,

supremacy provision, legal system, member states.

Introduction

The European Union (EU) is a sovereign body, a special international membership

unique in its kind, because it is characterized by a union where member states have

relinquished some sovereign rights by allowing the EU to have full discretion and

power to issue legal binding acts as a sovereign body. The European Union as a sui

generis entity based on the adopted Treaties of the union, has undoubtedly created

a legally binding order to be implemented by the members of the union and their

citizens. The autonomy and independence of this legal system, known as "community

law", is one of the principles on which membership is based. The European Union is a