Judicial Application of European Union Law in post-Communist Countries: The cases of Estonia and Latvia

This book discusses how the plurality of legal norms operating in the European Union can be balanced to produce a functioning, sustainable and legitimate legal system. Presenting a conceptual framework for assessing and comparing transformations of national judicial systems in the context of EU membership, the book contributes to the EU legal theoretical debate on the relationship between 'authority' and 'coherence'. The author develops an original analytical framework of coherence to assess the application of EU law by national courts and uses interdisciplinary scientific methods and research design that combine legal doctrinal and social science methodology to the study of 'classical' legal questions. Providing an extensive database of 2004-2009 national judgments of national courts in Latvia and Estonia, the book offers an extensive comparative review of the jurisprudence of constitutional and supreme courts, as well as providing insight into the jurisprudence of ordinary national courts. It will appeal to legal scholars and political scientists studying courts and jurisprudence. Table of Contents:-- Preface; -- Introduction: National adjudication and the coherence of the EU legal system; -- Part I Three Dimensional Coherence Approach: Conceptual framework. -- Part II Adjudication of EU Law by Highest National Courts: Substantive coherence: constitutional structures and principles; -- Institutional coherence: interests and interactions; Argumentative coherence: justifications, values and legal culture. -- Part III Adjudication of EU Law by National Ordinary Courts: Comparative overview of national case law; -- Jurisprudence of Estonian courts; -- Jurisprudence of Latvian courts. Synthesis and Conclusion -- Domestic courts and application of EU law: sources and methods of coherence; -- Bibliography; -- Index

Union citizenship : legal framework and dynamics

While citizenship and nationality have historically been tied very closely to the nation state, the introduction of Union citizenship in the early 1990s has introduced a European dimension to citizenship rights in the EU. This chapter provides an overview of the legal basis in EU primary and secondary law for Union citizenship, while examining the relationship between Union and national citizenship, as well as the independent content of Union citizenship, and its impact on student mobility. It finds that because citizenship of the Union is derived from and based upon national citizenship, the EU's Member States retain broad discretion over the criteria for granting citizenship, as well as many of the rights that go along with it. Nonetheless, this chapter also highlights that increasingly, Member States exercise these rights subject to the principles of mutual recognition and proportionality, as enforced by the ECJ. At the same time, by expanding longstanding rights of movement and enhancing protections against discrimination on the basis of nationality, Union citizenship has significantly expanded access to social services by EU nationals living in another EU Member State, and to dependents living elsewhere in the Union. For students, all of this means that access to higher education institutions is guaranteed to Union citizens, while maintenance grants and other social services are guaranteed after a minimum period of continuous residence