ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the national constitutional structures and EU legal principles of supremacy, direct effect and harmonious interpretation that guide national courts in settling possible substantive incoherencies. The purpose is to assess the application and boundaries of legal principles that are available to national courts in resolving conflicts between substantive norms. Legal principles are tools that national courts can use to resolve conflicts between national and EU law. The analysis of application of legal principles that follows below is central to understanding the mechanisms that help to sustain substantive coherence between EU and national legal norms. Thus, according to the interpretation of the Latvian Constitutional Court, national legal doctrine places limits on its acceptance of EU law supremacy from its own national constitutional provisions on sovereignty and democracy. In contrast, the Estonian Supreme Court regards the supremacy of EU law as trumping all national law, including the Constitution.
