Parallelisms and Paralogisms in the European Court of Justice

The ECJ has managed to go beyond its mission of stewardship. Behind the ever-enlarging power of the ECJ’s judges lies the political logic of appointment based on one country-one judge criterion. As a consequence, sentences and opinions are patterned upon political will tossed with judicial gloss. It is no wonder, therefore, that judges interpret judicial action in terms of centralization and use it as a weapon to protect against external competition. What such an attitude may lead to is brought out in the cases of assignment of competences, parallel imports and tax competition