EUROPEAN LAW, NATIONAL LAW AND (UN)CERTAINTY OF LAW. One of the fundamental values of any legal system is the principle of certainty of law, whose highest expression is its encoding in the various bodies of law. However, today this value is strongly, albeit inadvertently, called into question by the European Union – in particular, by a set of principles, and related mechanisms, designed to ensure uniformity of law across the EU Member States. These include the principle of primacy of EU law over the laws of its Member States, the principle of the disapplication of national laws that are incompatible with EU law (including the provisions of directives that have not yet been implemented, or that have implemented in a manner deemed incorrect), the principle of interpretation of national law in conformity with EU law and, above all, the conclusive and binding effect of the judgments of the EU Court of Justice even when they provide a ‘unique’ or unusual interpretation, not expressly provided for in EU law. These principles are now well-established benchmarks in supreme and national courts as well, to the extent that there has been a radical shift in the system and hierarchy of sources of law in each legal system of the EU Member States, at the expense of citizens, businesspeople and legal practitioners, who all find it hard to identify the exact rule to apply to specific cases.

Jedna od osnovnih vrednosti svakog pravnog poretka je pravna sigurnost, čija konsolidacija u zakonicima predstavlja njen najviši izraz. Ovu vrednost je, međutim, u današnje vreme u velikoj meri, ali nenamerno, dovela u pitanje Evropska unija, posebno putem niza mehanizama čiji je cilj da obezbede standardizaciju prava u Državama članicama. Princip nadređenosti evropskih propisa nacionalnim propisima, princip neprimene nacionalnih prava koja nisu kompatibilna s evropskim pravom (uključujući i pravo sadržano u direktivama koje još uvek nisu sprovedene ili koje su pogrešno sprovedene), princip usklađene interpretacije nacionalnog prava u odnosu na evropsko pravo, a posebno obavezujuća i obavezna snaga presuda Suda pravde, čak i kada ove presude nude “originalnu” interpretaciju, koja nije izričito predviđena u evropskom zakonodavstvu, predstavljaju konsolidovane principe koji su se afirmisali i na nivou nacionalnih sudova. Sve ovo je dovelo do radikalne promene sistema izvora prava i njihove hijerarhije u svim pravnim porecima Država članica, čija su žrtva građanin i preduzetnik, a naročito pravnik i sudija koji moraju da se snalaze i neprekidno tragaju za korektnim zakonom koji treba primeniti na konkretni slučaj.