Foreword; Acknowledgements; Table of contents; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. West Meets East: 1. It works! The European Union in the wake of fifth and sixth enlargements Adam Łazowski; 2. La nouvelle vague: the introduction of a more significant Ost-politik in the EU's security policies Steven Blockmans; Part II. East Meets West: 3. Constitutional changes and challenges in the New Member States Anneli Albi; 4. Intertemporal legal issues in the European Union case law relating to the 2004 and 2007 accessions Saulius Lukas Kalėda; 5. New European judges and the limits of the possible Michal Bobek; Part III. From Estonia to Bulgaria... the Application of EU Law: 6. 'Community, identity, stability': ideals and practice in building a bridge between the legal systems of the European Union and one of the smallest of the 'brave new world' Julia Lafranque; 7. Lithuania's membership in the European Union and application of EU law at national level Irmantas Jarukaitis; 8. The application of EU law in Latvia Galina Zukova; 9. Poland: constitutional drama and business as usual Adam Łazowski and Aleksandra Wentkowska; 10. What about that 'incoming tide'? The application of EU law in Czech Republic Zdeněk Kühn and Michal Bobek; 11. Europe yet to come: the application of EU law in Slovakia Zdeněk Kühn and Michal Bobek; 12. The application of EU law in Hungary: challenges and emerging practices Tamara Takács; 13. The application of the EU law in Slovenia: teething troubles of the blue-eyed boy Saša Zagorc and Samo Bardutzky; 14. Malta and European Union law Ivan Sammut; 15. 'Back to reality': the implications of EU membership in the constitutional legal order of Cyprus Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou; 16. The application of EU law in Romania Kinga Tibori Szabo; Learning the hard way: Bulgaria and EU law Adam Łazowski and Svetla Yosifova; Conclusions: Nowy Świat - Új világ - Novy Svět; About the authors; Index.

The Application of EU Law in the New Member States - Brave New World is a unique volume, providing readers with an in-depth analysis of EU-related legal developments in the twelve new Member States of the European Union.
As anticipated, the new Member States have experienced considerable challenges in the transposition and application of EU law. The first five years have also brought a series of controversial decisions of constitutional and supreme courts on the principle of the supremacy of EC law and the position of third pillar legislation in national legal systems. There is also a growing body of highly interesting decisions of lower courts, proving that EU law is slowly making its way and its effectiveness should not be at risk in the long term. Having passed the phase of shyness, domestic courts in at least a few of those countries have already started to send references for the preliminary rulings to the European Court of Justice. Despite some early disappointments, the new references are, in most cases, admissible and very interesting from the substantive point of view.
A purely technocratic approach may immediately lead to a conclusion that all these efforts are not sufficient and that the newcomers are underperforming. However, if one takes into account the breadth of the reforms and changes those countries have undergone in the past two decades the conclusion may be different. The emerging picture is quite impressive when economic, political and social factors are taken into account. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which had managed to escape the brain draining ruthless Soviet empire, have spent the last twenty years in a deep, multidimensional transformation. Membership of the European Union is yet another challenge they are faced with. One should not think of those countries as children of a lesser God, but rather a Brave New World negotiating its way in the contemporary Europe.
This book is important reading for academics, practitioners and civil servants in the EU Member States and candidate countries.
Dr Adam Lazowski is Reader in Law at the School of Law, University of Westminster, London, UK.

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