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Publishers Abstract:
The case initiated by Thomas Pringle, a member of the Dail Eireann (the lower house of the Irish parliament), and referred by the Irish Supreme Court, proved to be an unusually important one for the Court of Justice. The importance which the Member States attached to the outcome of this case is shown by the fact that eleven governments (ten of them from the euro area, plus the UK), decided to intervene in the proceedings, whereas a twelfth government, that of Ireland, was directly involved as the defendant party in the national court case. In addition to the Commission and the European Parliament, who are repeat players in Luxembourg, the European Council also intervened, for the first time ever. The reason for the latter's intervention was that the Pringle reference also raised a question about the validity of the European Council Decision that had paved the way for the European Stability Mechanism Treaty. Intergovernmental stability mechanisms remain outside the scope of application of both Treaty provisions on the principle of transparency and complementary secondary legislation.
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