ABSTRACT
By contrast with ordinary international treaties, the EEC Treaty has created its own legal system which, on the entry into force of the Treaty, became an integral part of the legal systems of the Member States and which their courts are bound to apply. The European Union has come to be regarded as a powerful entity on the international stage and it is. Like any revolution – indeed any system of government – it depends for its effectiveness on the consent of those meant to be governed by it. Crucially, in the case of the judicial doctrine of supremacy, the consent required includes that of national constitutional courts. Craig and de Burca have formulated a set of questions which can be deployed as a useful four-part test of the extent national courts’ acceptance of supremacy. The BVG ruling of 5 May 2020 in response to the Court of Justice ruling came as something of a bombshell.
