Budinská speaks on judicial review of national law applied by the ECB in banking supervision
On 8 July, the Young Researchers Group of the European Banking Institute organised the 11th edition of the EBI YRG Virtual Workshop Session. Barbora Budinská presented her research on judicial review of national law applied by the ECB in banking supervision
With the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the first pillar of the Banking Union, the European Central Bank (ECB), as the first EU institution, has been conferred the power to apply national (banking) law. This creates a host of problems not only for the ECB, which has to apply national rules of all Member States participating in the Banking Union, but also for the Court of Justice and the General Court (EU courts) which have to review the legality of ECB decisions in light of national law. Traditionally, the European legal framework operates on the basis of separation of judicial responsibilities: national courts are competent to interpret national law, while the EU courts are responsible for the interpretation of EU law. At first sight, the ECB’s power to apply national law does not sit well with this well-established divide. Nonetheless, the EU courts must ensure the legality of the ECB action and therefore accommodate national (banking) rules within their adjudication process. In her presentation, Barbora first addressed the reasons why, in principle, the EU courts traditionally exercise deference towards national law, second, the different roles and functions national law can serve before EU courts and, finally, how the EU courts should approach the review of ECB decisions based on national law. The distinguished panel of discussants consisted of Prof. Christos Gortsos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Prof. Matthias Haentjens (Leiden University).
The presentation is based on Barbora’s doctoral research in which she analyses the scope of applicable national law by the ECB within the framework of European banking supervision, the review of such national law by EU courts and its impact on general principles of EU law, particularly the principle of EU law autonomy. Barbora is a member of the European Banking Institute’s Young Researcher Group.