To this day, constitutional courts across the European Union (EU) use the structure of Solange I for challenging the primacy of EU law. Its legacy may be seen as that of a blueprint of constructive constitutional conflict: its logic introduces the idea that the principle of primacy of EU law is conditional. An important contribution of Solange I as a device structuring constitutional conflict is the commitment of the German court to observe the development of the EU and its law. This contribution engages with the EU’s reconfiguration in respect of the EU’s constitution broadly understood and explores constitutional courts’ engagement with it, introduced by Solange I. These considerations are then tested in two areas of reconfiguration in the EU’s constitutional settlement: the Euro crisis and criminal law. With that analysis in mind, the paper concludes by unveiling further areas of reconfiguration and by reflecting on the role to be played by constitutional courts in contemporary constitutional conflict in the EU.
Bobić, A.: Constitutional Courts in the Face of the EU’s Reconfiguration, Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht / Heidelberg Journal of International Law, ZaöRV 85 (2025), 523-545. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17104/0044-2348-2025-2-523