This book provides a broad-ranging assessment of the Court's contribution to the integration process. It shows how the Court has taken advantage of opportunities when they have arisen in the European political process to "constitutionalize" the founding treaties and to exert a strong influence on policy decisions. It also examines challenges confronting the European Union and examines why the Court's active role has not encountered greater opposition and analyzes the implications for the Court of current issues.

Whereas individual Member State governments of the European Union occasionally complain about judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), especially when those judgments curtail that State's policy autonomy in a sensitive domain, the collectivity of the Member State governments have agreed in each treaty revision so far to confirm and extend the far-reaching powers which the ECJ possesses for enforcing EU law. The explanation of the paradox can only be that, deep down, the Member States of the EU remain convinced that an effective ECJ with strong enforcement powers is one of the salient features of EU law which have stood the test of time and feel no inclination to clip the wings of the ECJ for fear that this would affect the effectiveness of the European integration process. Nevertheless, the grumblings about single judgments, or about the consistency and direction of the ECJ in particular policy fields, have never ceased and indeed have become more audible in recent years. This book - now available in paperback - deals with the perception that the ECJ quite often does not leave sufficient autonomy to the Member States in developing their own legal and policy choices in areas where European and national competences overlap.

Marc Jacob analyses in depth the most important justificatory and decision-making tool of one of the world's most powerful courts.

Uses the EU Treaty framework to (re)assess the legitimacy of the Court of Justice's institutional role in European integration.

Presents a new approach to prominent judgments of the European Court of Justice drawing on the writings of Judge Robert Lecourt.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has played a vital role in promoting the process of European integration. In recent years, however, the expansion of EU law has led it to impact ever more politically sensitive issues, and controversial ECJ judgments have elicited unprecedented levels of criticism. Can we expect the Court to sustain its role as a motor of deeper integration without Member States or other countervailing forces intervening? To answer this question, we need to revisit established explanations of the Court’s power to see if they remain viable in the Court’s contemporary environment. We also need to better understand the ultimate limits of the Court’s power – the means through which and extent to which national governments, national courts, litigants and the Court’s other interlocutors attempt to influence the Court and to limit the impact of its rulings. In this book, leading scholars of European law and politics investigate how the ECJ has continued to support deeper integration and whether the EU is experiencing an increase in countervailing forces that may diminish the Court’s ability or willingness to act as a motor of integration. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.