Preliminary Ruling Procedure as a Tool of Cooperation between the Court of Justice of the EU and National Constitutional Courts
The preliminary ruling procedure as stipulated in Article 267 of the Treaty on European Union has significantly affected the development of EU law. It enables to ensure convergent interpretation and application of EU law provisions in all Member States and serves as a basic element of preserving convergence of the European legal system. The efficiency of the preliminary ruling procedure primarily depends on readiness of national courts for cooperation. Currently, the efficient cooperation has been established between the Court of Justice of the EU and national courts of general jurisdiction. However, there are certain complexities in relationships between the Court of Justice and national constitutional courts, although these particular courts play an instrumental role in the development of the constitutional aspects of European integration. Over a long time period, the majority of constitutional courts rejected or failed to employ a possibility of submitting requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice, however, step by step they started revising their position. The submission of requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice by high profile national constitutional review bodies - Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and Constitutional Court of Italy - demonstrates their intent to cooperate in addressing complex challenges. Thereby, the Court of Justice also demonstrates its readiness for cooperation with national constitutional courts even where the grounds for preliminary ruling are not indisputable. The Court of Justice is attentive to arguments of national constitutional courts regarding the specifics of national legal orders and seeks to provide substantive interpretation of the European law provisions. Preliminary rulings of the Court of Justice that are followed, though with certain reservations, by national constitutional courts is a crucial investment into the development of constructive judicial cooperation. Nevertheless, there is a low probability to expect that interfacing between the Court of Justice and constitutional review bodies will be developing with the same dynamic pace as with the courts of general jurisdiction.