Judicial Activism and European Citizenship: Influence of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Details

Supervisors

François van der Mensbrugghe

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en études européennes (UCLouvain / USL-B)

Abstract

This dissertation studies the judicial activism of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the context of European citizenship through a qualitative analysis of 30 cases adopted by the ECJ. Three underlying objectives are pursued. First, the influence of the ECJ on the development of European citizenship is assessed. Second, an overview of the way in which the decisions are giving in these cases is presented. And thirdly, the dissertation will help to understand the influence of the ECJ on the adoption of the Citizenship Directive in 2004. The project is relevant for a twofold reason. First, it gives a more coherent and overall picture over the judicial activism of the Court, by considering a big number of cases. Second, the perspective shows distance and therefore more objectivity to the judgments, as most scholars have previously analysed cases shortly after the deliberation by the Court. The results contribute especially to a better understanding of how active the European Court of Justice is. In 30 out of 123 judgements that have been adopted since the Maastricht Treaty, the ECJ has shown some judicial activism. It has thereby influenced the understanding of the Treaty Articles 18, 20 and 21 TFEU, as well as the Citizenship Directive. However, the analysis shows a rather limited influence on the Directive and denies a strong influence of the Court on its adoption. Nevertheless, judicial activism is generally higher than assumed and the critics towards the Court’s activism are not surprising. The ECJ was able to develop the rules on European citizenship further by providing answers to questions to which the law is silent or contradictory in a particular way. Sometimes, judicial activism was necessary to make a case clear, sometimes the ECJ went beyond its proper judicial powers. With the further development of the law, the ECJ made sure that the free movement rights are ensured and that mobile citizens are not facing discrimination on the ground of nationally.