In 1861, Mill wondered how to hold to account Parliament, which checks the Ministers’ actions, but whose own behaviour is subject to little control. A similar logic is inherent to another branch of government: the judiciary. Legislation usually sets up a system of remedies against wrongful decisions; however, what if the court of last instance disregarded the law?
The proper mechanism of EU law answering to this question is judicial liability as per the Köbler case. Alongside the actions in Articles 258-259 TFEU and other non-EU remedies, this latter judgment enforces the duty laid down in Art.267(3) TFEU. Pursuant to the abovementioned legal framework, a Member State must compensate the injury caused by a manifest breach of the acquis on the part of a court of last instance (see also the Hochtief Solutions case, para. 41-43).
Continue reading “Quis custodies ipsos custodes? Vivacom Bulgaria (C‑369/23) and the relationship between ‘two autonomies’ of EU law”