The role of the European Court of justice in the application of European Union law in the European Union member states

In time, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been endowed with more powers than had been granted to it by relevant treaties and has developed its own doctrine emphasizing the superiority of the EU Law against the national laws of the member states. Adopting and proper implementing of the EU Law at the national levels is an important obligation for the member states. So much that, should any state fail to adopt and/or properly implement the EU Law, the European Commission and/or other member states shall have the right to claim this before the Court. And the Infringement Procedure is one of the most important functions of the ECJ, as "The Guardian of the EU Law". The focus of this thesis is the very investigation of this procedure and the evaluation of its success as well as the importance of the decisions of the ECJ in enforcing the member states to adopt the EU law in their national legislations. As for our findings, it can be said that despite the fact that the ECJ is a controversial institution in the sense that there exist criticisms towards its above-mentioned role and that the approaches the member states have developed vary much across the Union, the ECJ and its case law have proven to be essential in guarding the EU Law and guaranteeing its proper and standardized implementation in the member states.