The Romanian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice—Parallel Monologues

 A pragmatic approach to European integration sees national and European sovereignty reinforce each other mutually. Potential parallel claims of ultimate authority over the protection of the fundamental rights of European citizens have thus been transformed into common values and shared jurisdictions among national and European courts. However, occasionally, some clashes between sovereignty prerogatives still manifest themselves. While more often than not, these clashes end up in constructive judicial dialogues between constitutional courts and the European Court of Justice, at times, they may translate into disruptive interactions. One such missed opportunity for dialogue occurred in 2022 between the Romanian Constitutional Court and the ECJ. It involved opposite approaches with regard to the principle of primacy of EU law over national legal orders. It also concerned ordinary courts operating as a buffer between the ECJ and the national constitutional court, a sort of permanent ‘collateral victim’ of the battle between those two giants. This unique iteration left some scars but has not managed to overshadow the existing constructive dialogue between the Romanian Constitutional Court and the ECJ.