Wie Europa Zeus bändigte

The involvement of plaintiffs contributed significantly to the development of the European Union's equality law. On the basis of 70 judgments of the European Court of Justice, the use of European law since the famous Defrenne cases in the 1970s, and up to more recent judgements such as the Coman case, is analyzed, taking into account the respective political context. The prohibition of discrimination in Article 157 TFEU, which was initially based on competition and women's policy, is now increasingly being traced back to fundamental and human rights and includes LGBTQIA+ rights. In the long term, effective individual rights protection with this additional entitlement is dependent on an expansion of the EU's competences.