A crisis of authority? Recent challenges in the European Union's legal system

The European Union has witnessed a number of crises in recent years: the Eurocrisis, the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 and a rule of law crisis. In addition to these economic, geopolitical and health crises, the European Union’s legal system and in particular the Court of Justice has also faced a crisis of authority, linked to but separate from the rule of law crisis. Authority constitutes a social relation among a superior, a subject and a range of action whereby the commands of the superior provide content independent reasons for action on the part of the subject. The proposed paper will analyse the authority of the Court of Justice in light of this definition, arguing that its authority flows from its role as the definitive (or authoritative) interpreter of Union law, amplified by a series of judgments on the nature of the Union legal order and underpinned by a vision of the Union legal order as autonomous, effective and integrated. Its position of authority rests on national constitutional and supreme courts sharing this vision of the Union legal order and its pre-emptive character vis-à-vis their own constitutional orders. This paper will analyse the authority of the Court of Justice vis-à-vis national Supreme and Constitutional Courts in light of recent challenges posed by the German Constitutional Court and the Polish Constitutional Tribunal amongst others.