The Lisbon Treaty and the European Court of Justice (Court of Justice of the European Union)

Abstract

The ECJ role as constitutional court has become increasingly important
since 1985. Given its central role as the guardian of the entire European
law, the ECJ has built the so-called "European constitution". As
reconstructed impressively by Joseph Weiler and others, judicial
constitution-building extended to the structural constitution (i.e. the
relationship of European and national law including the famous doctrines
of direct effect, supremacy and state liability), the substantive
constitution (composed of the free trade provisions converted into basic
market freedoms by the Court, competition law, and the protection of
human rights invented by the Court), and the institutional constitution
(setting forth the competencies and the rules of interaction of the various
European institutions). A new phase of judicial activism has begun in the
European Court of Justice, a phase focused on the protection of
fundamental rights. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights, as
well as the Lisbon Treaty has strengthened the position of the Court of
Justice. This paper will elaborate the crucial changes contented in the
Lisbon Treaty concerning the ECJ and also the new role of the Court in
the procedure of the preliminary ruling.