Infringement Proceedings in EU Law

Infringement proceedings constitute a signi¬ficant proportion of proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union and play a key role in the development of EU law. Their immediate purpose is to obtain a declaration that a Member State has, by its conduct, failed to ful¬l an obligation under the EU Treaties. The aim is to bring that conduct and its effects to an end and, ultimately, to eliminate infringements across the Union. This book – the ¬first comprehensive and detailed full-length work in English on infringement proceedings under Articles 258-260 TFEU – provides not only an in-depth discussion on the role and function of infringement proceedings within the EU legal order, but also a critical assessment of the procedures as they currently stand, complete with proposals for future changes.

Recognizing that Member States’ compliance with EU law is an integral part of the task of ensuring the rule of law throughout the Union, the author thoroughly explains the functioning of infringement proceedings, their requirements and related policies, including issues such as:

• – the Commission’s discretion to bring a case before the Court;
• – the author of the infringement, including national courts or private entities;
• – Member States’ procedural and substantive defences;
• – the different procedures under Articles 258, 259 and 260(2) and (3) TFEU;
• – rights of private parties;
• – interim measures;
• – ¬financial sanctions;
• – Member States’ liability; and
• – the roles played by the European Parliament and the Ombudsman.

Particular attention is devoted to rules that have not yet been fully interpreted, or where the current interpretation or application of the rules seems problematic. The book tackles, in particular, whether infringement proceedings, as they stand, constitute an appropriate means of ensuring observance by Member States’ authorities of the EU acquis, and, if not, what reforms should be implemented in order to achieve this in the future. Such a detailed and in-depth examination of this fundamental procedure of EU law will be of great and long-lasting interest to EU and Member State administrators, legal practitioners and academics.

Luca Prete is currently a référendaire (Legal Secretary) for Advocate General Wahl at the Court of Justice of the European Union, on secondment from the Legal Service of the European Commission. He is also a member of the Centre for European Law of the Free University of Brussels (VUB). He has published several articles in the fi¬eld of EU law and is a regular speaker at EU law seminars and conferences.