German Federal Constitutional Court rules that EU court judgements are to be followed

26 August 2010, Karlsruhe. Germany’s top constitutional judges ruled that the country’s courts must follow precedents set down by the European Union’s Court of Justice (EUCJ) unless they were rendered in an “evident violation of powers.”

The Federal Constitutional Court rejected arguments that Judges did not have to follow an EU court ruling outlawing the disparate treatment of older workers in employment contracts. Even if the EUCJ overstepped its authority under EU treaties, the violation would not necessarily be serious enough to disregard the ruling.

Such a step is only permissible “if European institutions violate their competencies in a sufficiently qualified way,” the Karlsruhe, Germany-based Judges wrote. “This presupposes that EU power holders act in evident violation of their competencies and the action changes the Union’s competence structure at the expense of the member states.”

Several German suits have challenged the EU decisions arguing they were taken outside the powers granted to the bloc under its treaties. The German Constitutional Court is currently considering complaints arguing Germany may not participate in the Greek debt and euro bailout rescue funds.

The present case concerned a German law making it easier to limit the length of employment contracts for workers older than 52. The EUCJ said the law violates a general EU principle against age discrimination, because younger workers were better protected against employment term limits.

The EUCJ ruling has been widely criticized by German legal scholars. The plaintiff picked up their arguments that the EUCJ was wrong to “invent” such a general principle against age discrimination because EU rules did not grant such a power to the EU’s top court.

Link to Constitutional Court Press Release (in German): click here . To read the judgement (in German) click here  

Source of article: http://www.bloomberg.com/