The Kadi Case: Constitutionalising the Relationship between European Union Law and International Law
The Kadi Case: Constitutionalising the Relationship between European Union Law and International Law

Summary/Abstract: In the case of the European Union (EU), constitutionalisation refers to the process of deepening of legal integration in the EU, through which the EU was transformed from an international organisation into a sui generis entity based on a ‘constitutional charter’. Constitutionalisation occurred through crystallising and approving principles such as supremacy, direct effect and autonomy, which were inaugurated by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and applied to the relations of Union law towards national legal systems of member states. This paper deals with the topic of new tendencies with regard to the relationship between international law and European Union law, especially having in mind the judgment in the Kadi case, where it appears the ECJ initiated the process of asserting the supremacy and autonomy of EU law against the international legal order. The author offers an explanation of this shift through the Solange argument, developed by the German Constitutional Court within the framework of constitutional pluralism, envisaged as a tool in defining and defending the core constitutional principles and values of a political community.

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