European Union Law: How Autonomous is its Legal Order?

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the ECJ’s Kadi judgment, it has been argued again, that Community law’s autonomy from international law went so far that it was no longer part of international law. Based on the ECJ’s own jurisdiction and theoretical considerations, this paper examines the proper meaning that should be attributed to invocations of the autonomy of the EU legal order in relation to the rest of international law.