Abstract

There is a growing number of fundamental conflicts between European law and national constitutional norms. Such "constitutional conflicts" are said to be caused by specific dynamics in the relationships between national and supranational courts. In this article, it is argued that constitutional conflicts need to be considered in their wider context, in particular, taking into account the considerable differences in constitutional grammar, and in social and cultural orientation. Contrary to what is usually assumed, national constitutional norms and supranational European law are not dialects of one and the same "legal" tongue, but, on the contrary, they have come to realise and uphold very different fundamental principles. On such a basis, conflicts are likely to persist and grow in the coming future.