ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to show that, as the Court of Justice of the European Union expressly affirmed in the passage from Siragusa cited, the point of protecting fundamental rights in European Union (EU) law is the need to uphold the unity, primacy and effectiveness of EU law. EU fundamental rights bind not only the institutions, but also member states, when they implement EU law. The rationale for extending fundamental rights review to the type of ‘agency’ situation is also consonant with the point of fundamental rights as ‘unity preservers’. Member states are required to respect EU fundamental rights where they take measures which concern a matter in respect of which EU law imposes an obligation on the Member States. EU law claims supremacy over national law such that national courts are required, by EU law, to set aside national law which conflicts with EU law.
