Where culture, language and politics meet: Is there any place for national identity in the EEA legal system?

Abstract

Over recent years, most particularly with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the protection of national identity or constitutional identity has become a bone of contention between the Court of Justice of the European Union and the courts of EU Member States. While of obvious relevance to the development of the Union legal order, this concept has implications beyond the borders of the Union especially with respect to those EFTA states which are also members of the European Economic Area. With its own court, the EFTA Court, having successfully transposed (to varying degrees) fundamental EU law principles into the sui generis EEA system, this article considers whether or not it might repeat the process with national identity and, if so, the extent to which it might be successful.