The Justiciability of Socio-economic Rights, European Solidarity, and the Role of the Court of Justice of the EU

Summary:

This article discusses the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It argues that the CJEU can play a role in the European Union (EU) through the continuous development and deepening of new, democratic experimentalist forms of judicial review.

The article discusses the theoretical underpinnings by situating the debate about the CJEU within the broader debate underway today between liberal-constitutional and political-constitutionalist conceptions of judicial review. The article argues that democratic experimentalism occupies a ‘third’ position with regard to both. Consequently, it will discuss three representative strands of the CJEU’s recent case law and the implications for a new understanding of solidarity.