Many scholars argue that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), perceived as having extensively shaped the European Union integration process, has created an understanding of ‘integration through law’ exclusively based on economic rights. Its pro-integration case law would have a purpose, which is to build an internal market based on the free movement of goods, persons, services and capitals, and more generally to defend the values of a liberal economy. We argue, on the contrary, that market integration is only one among other values defended by the Court.
To provide evidence of the pluralism in the Court’s values, we build a typology of values drawing on the existing literature on law and politics. We apply this typology to a selection of landmark rulings and analyse the content of these rulings in order to unveil the values of the Court. Describing the Court as market biased, and hence defending a purely market-based identity of the EU, while one of the aspects of legal integration, is not the only one. Four other values are present in the Court’s rulings: collective values aimed at developing solidarity and the social dimension of the EU, while limiting in some occasions the effects of the internal market; human rights; EU governance, including democracy / rule of law, good governance and institutional balance between EU institutions; the autonomy of European legal order.
The CJEU performs different legal functions in the EU political system. These functions sometimes lead the Court to give pro-market interpretations, as the market is a core element of the treaties and of the integration process; but the Court also pursues other objectives, contributing to the building of European pluralistic legal values.
