Case Law Review of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Abstract

This Chronicle analyses the most outstanding milestones of the caselaw of the Court of Justice in the second half of 2025. The most difficult challenge for the chronicler is the selection of some 30 judgments from around 500 judgments delivered by the Court of Justice in the period under review. That limited selection means, in fact, that the attention of the General Court, which goes almost unnoticed, cannot be paid. The first part deals with a number of cases originating in national courts and States other than Spain, the particular situation of which is dealt with in the second part. The general part analyses the General Court’s preliminary ruling on VAT, which initiates this deconcentration procedure in dispute management. It is also noted that the Court has continued its case-law on equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin; the effects of EU citizenship as a limit to national laws against same-sex couples; the consistency of an award on sport arbitration with the principles and provisions of EU law which form part of EU public policy; and the delimitation of the competences of the European Union with regard to the harmonisation of the minimum wage. The other issues addressed are practical and relate to the application of social advantages to prosecutors, and by extension to judges; compensation for psychological damage in the case of victims of crime, and other tax issues such as precautionary measures, tax evidence or the free movement of capital within the internal market and the European Economic Area. The second part of the Chronicle tries to give an account of the judgments of the Court of Justice related to Spanish law and that it grouped together following the division of jurisdictions in Spain. In the area of criminal jurisdiction, the doctrine of non bis in idem in the area of freedom, security and justice is of interest. In the area of civil jurisdiction, the Court continues with its particular saga on the liability of Banco Santander as a result of the resolution of Banco Popular and other questions on unfair terms, compensation for the loss of a pet of airline passengers, on trademarks or on the private enforcement of competition law. In the area of administrative litigation, the Court of Justice has ruled that tax deductions from corporate tax do not constitute State aid; has commented on the limits of the fight against gambling diseases in the European market and the scope of the environmental impact assessment for wind farms, or on European railway legislation and its application in the Spanish organisational system. Finally, in the context of social jurisdiction, the Court of Justice interprets the concept of working time in the case of the posting of workers. Finally, and by way of example, I comment on a judgment on the financial corrections to Spain for the mismanagement by Andalusia and Catalonia of the Agricultural Fund, which refers very broadly to the scope of the appeal before the Court of Justice of the judgments delivered at first instance by the General Court.