The Substantive Requirements of Judicial Independence in the EU: Lessons from Times of Crisis

Abstract

Since 2018, there have been a number of ground-breaking cases on the matter of judicial independence in the EU, clarifying in particular the broad scope of application of (most notably) Article 19 TEU. In light of these developments, we found it important that a comprehensive investigation be undergone into the substantive requirements of the judicial independence provisions in EU law. When Article 19 TEU applies, what exactly does it require, including in times of crisis? Throughout a detailed analysis of the Court's case law, we identified certain i) 'essential guarantees' and ii) 'fundamental rules' of judicial independence, on which we elaborate in this new piece, an EU-POP Jean Monnet Module Working Paper.