Justice and politics in the European Union: The court of justice and the future of European integration.

• Autor(a) principal: Balla, Evanthia
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/11328/1098
• topic: European integration; Justice; Politics; Neo -functionalism; Liberal intergovernmentalism; Integração europeia; Justiça; Política; Neo‑funcionalismo; Intergovernamentalismo liberal

During the process of European integration, the main institutions created since the founding Treaties of the European Communities have played a decisive role in pushing the European project forward. Among these institutions, the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) 1 is said to be the most neglected by the academics, although it has extended significantly the EU policy for decades. This article reviews the Court’s evolution, function and main decisions and discusses its role, not only as an exclusively legal institution but also as a political player capable of driving forward European integration. This article claims that the Court has pushed forward integration process in some important ways, clarifying and extending EU law. However, the Court is primarily a legal institution of an intergovernmental organization, the European Union. Thus, its political power and role is limited to Treaties’ provisions and the Member States remain the key -actors of the EU’s decision making system until today.