European Legal Order

Content about European Legal Order from the publication “The ABC of European Union law” (2010, European Union) by Klaus-Dieter Borchardt.

What overall picture emerges of the EU’s legal order?

Context of European Legal Order in the European Union

The EU’s legal order is the true foundation of the Union, giving it a common system of law under which to operate. Only by creating new law and upholding it can the Union’s underlying objectives be achieved. The EU legal order has already accomplished a great deal in this respect. It is thanks not least to this new legal order that the largely open borders, the substantial trade in goods and services, the migration of workers and the large number of transnational links between companies have already made the common market part of everyday life for some 500 million people. Another, histo rically important, feature of the Union legal order is its peacemaking role. With its objective of maintaining peace and liberty, it replaces force as a means of settling conflicts by rules of law that bind both individuals and the Member States into a single Community. As a result the Union legal order is an important instrument for the preservation and creation of peace.

More about European Legal Order in the European Union

The community of law of the EU and its underlying legal order can survive only if compliance with and safeguarding of that legal order are guaranteed by the two cornerstones: the direct applicability of Union law and the primacy of Union law over national law. These two principles, the existence and maintenance of which are resolutely upheld by the Court of Justice, guarantee the uniform and priority application of Union law in all Member States.

Other Aspects

For all its imperfections, the EU legal order makes an invaluable contribution towards solving the political, economic and social problems of the Member States of the Union.