Die Rolle des Europäischen Gerichtshofs im Wandel

The thesis examines the changing role of the ECJ in the course of its judicial activity. While some of the early "grands arrêts" of the ECJ sometimes made it seem like an activist court that developed Community law in pursuit of "a certain idea of Europe", without regard to national interests and legal doctrines, its case law now increasingly displays a tendency towards restraint and minimalism. These trends are analysed in the thesis. It focusses on the increased scope for decision-making granted to the judiciaries of the Member States, and examines the possible causes, benefits, and risks of this decentralization of control over EU law.