Case Law Review of the Court of Justice of the European Union. January-June 2026

Abstract

This Chronicle analyses the most outstanding developments in the case-law of the Court of Justice in the first half of 2026. By way of introduction, reference is made to certain conditions for the application of EU law, such as the procedure for reviewing preliminary rulings of the General Court, the priority to be given to European references for a preliminary ruling or questions of unconstitutionality, the limits on the judicial application of EU law where provision is made for succinct grounds for judgments relating to foreign nationals or, finally, the way in which systematic and irregular appointments, in breach of EU law, of approximately 3,000 Polish judges are to be treated. In the first part, I set out a number of developments in the case-law of EU law, in particular in relation to the interpretation of the Charter, fundamental economic freedoms, the European market, the European harmonisation of national laws and the external projection of EU competences. In the second part, I deal exhaustively with the replies to appeals or references from Spain which are of interest because, first, the Court of Justice has rejected a question referred for a preliminary ruling on the ground that it has not explained in the context and, in other cases, the Court of Justice has corrected the General Court in relation to the procedure relating to the immunity of Members of the European Parliament. The most recent judgment concerning the remedies provided for the application of the Fixed-Term Directive to public employees has also been of particular importance. I would also recall the issues of particular interest as regards the harmonisation of national rules on public procurement and the deductions and exemptions provided for the application of VAT.