Introduction to EU Law The Role of the National Judge in the European Judicial Space. The Judiciary and the Enforcement of EU Law

The EU is a legal order based upon the core principles of the rule of law and the respect of EU legality. In order to uphold these principles, the EU has established an effective system of judicial protection, whose actors are the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and national courts and tribunals. The seminar will describe the role and competences of the CJEU, and the type actions which can be brought before it. Moreover, this seminar will also study in detail the duties and prerogatives corresponding to national courts and tribunals in the enforcement of EU legality. Consequently, participants will learn the allocation of jurisdictional competences between the national courts and the CJEU, and understand which are those cases where national courts are solely competent. The seminar will also guide participants through the EU legal system presenting the various EU legal instruments and explaining their respective legal force and their practical consequences in their application and interpretation by national judges. It will also comment on a number of EU legal principles which need to be taken into account by these magistrates in their judicial adjudication: primacy, direct effect and state liability. The seminar will conclude with an analysis and commentary of the main mechanism of cooperation between national judges and the CJEU, the reference for a preliminary ruling procedure.