NATIONAL RESPONSES TO SUPRANATIONAL CONSTITUTIONALISM IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union is perhaps the only organization in the world that managed to introduce constitutionalization on the supranational level. The EU Member States adopted the approach of what is described as constitutional tolerance. In short, this approach assumes the resignation from certain attributes of sovereignty that were historically reserved for national bodies in return for the reassurance that some actions are not to be accepted within the Community. The supranational nature of the European Union was confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union in Les Verts-Parti Ecologiste v. Parliament in which the EU founding treaties were described as a basic constitutional charter of the Community. The supranational character of the European Union affects the national legal systems in various ways.Most importantly, it was commonly accepted by the national governments and judiciary that the Court of Justice of the European Union possesses extraordinary judicial power which is among others exercised by the creation of legal rules directly effective on the national level. Furthermore, the supranational character of the European Union is visible in the creation of strong human rights guarantees that often go beyond the boundaries of the Member States? legal systems.