4 Legal Acts, 4.2 Solange I, BverfGE 37, 291, 29 May 1974; Solange II, BverfGE 73, 339, 22 October 1986; Solange III, BverfGE 89, 155 12 October 1993; and Solange IV, BverfGE 102, 147, 7 June 2000

Subject(s):

Judges — Responsibility of international organizations — Ultra Vires conduct

The Solange case-law stands for a specific form of interaction between the legal order of the European Union (EU) and the legal orders of the member states (MS) or, respectively, between the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the national Constitutional Courts of the MS. At the start of this line of cases the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht—BverfG) first upheld its power to consider the compatibility of Community law rules with fundamental rights of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) ‘as long as the integration process has not progressed so far that Community law receives a catalogue of fundamental rights’ (Solange I). Afterwards, when fundamental rights protection had become sufficiently strong within the EC/EU the BVerfG declared to refrain from such a control activity ‘as long as the European Communities ensure effective protection of fundamental rights’ (Solange II). Subsequently, this case-law was further clarified.