ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is a theoretically inspired and empirically grounded interdisciplinary contribution to the study of the complex relationship between the idea of coherence and the European Union (EU) legal order. It focuses on coherence in the application of EU law within national legal systems; the authors assess and compare how Estonian and Latvian national courts understand and apply EU law, explicitly or implicitly considering appeal to coherence of the EU institutional legal order. The book analyses the involvement of post-Communist Member State courts in decentralized enforcement of EU law and the constitutional, institutional and structural adjustments that accompany acceptance of the EU mandate by national courts. It investigates how national 'specialties' informed, inter alia, by post-Communist legacies, are reconciled by national courts with the requirements of uniform and effective application of EU law.
