Jurnalul de studii juridice supliment 4-2012 - Editura Lumen

THE INFLUENCE OF EUROPEAN UNION LAW….community law systems are interdependent, which is reflected in theUnion’s capitalization of certain provisions of national law. 11However, there are conflicts between the two components of legalorder, observed between the two systems in those cases where communitylaw establishes the direct rights and obligations of EU citizens, whosecontent other than that of national law. Two principles were set up toresolve these conflicts: the primacy of EU law and the principle of itsdirect applicability.The principle of direct effect and the primacy of community lawsare permanently linked, because they do not involve the matter ofresolving the conflict between the two rules of law but decide which oneof them takes priority if it is not established beforehand which one havejuridical effects in the respective law systems. 12At present, the principle of primacy of community law issanctioned by Declaration nr. 17, in the annex to the Lisbon Treaty,suggestively dubbed “The declaration on supremacy”, where it is clearlystated that: “... treaties and legislation adopted by the Union on the takepriority in relation with the legislation of member states...”Thus, in accordance with the principle of primacy, communitylegal rules will nullify any subsequent or existing national laws, in case theyare contradictory, or in case when certain legal relations which comeunder the influence of the Union.Besides the principle of community law supremacy, the principleof direct effect represents one of the fundaments of the community laworder.The concept of “direct effect” is tightly linked to “directapplicability”, without being mistaken for it. Even though certainauthors 13 do not make the distinction between the two terms and usethem interchangeably, at present it is well established that directapplicability consists in the quality of a community act to become part ofthe national legislature of member states without the necessity ofintegrating it, while direct effect describes a situation, in which a new11 D. Mazilu. Integrarea europeana: drept comunitar si institutii europene, Editura Lumina Lex,Bucureşti, 2007, pp. 88-89.12 T. Stefan, B. Andresan Grigoriu. Drept comunitar, Editura C.H. Beck, Bucuresti, 2007, p.203.13 G. Isaac. Droit communautaire general, Editura Armand Colin, Paris, 1998, p. 171.43Copyright Jurnalul de Studii Juridice, Editura Lumen