ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the political role of fundamental rights in case law concerning long-term contractual relationships between parties holding unequal bargaining positions. An evaluation will be made of the role of the judge in regard to the answering of legal-political questions underlying disputes in long-term contractual relationships. The role of fundamental rights in the adjudication process will be assessed. In particular, it will be investigated how the application of these rights to contractual disputes affects the manner in which judges frame their decisions. The chapter draws on the potential impact of fundamental rights on further harmonization in the field of long-term contractual relationships in the EU. It argues that the current tendency of applying fundamental rights in these types of cases raises questions that are similar to the ones that have just been described for the US legal system in many European countries.
