In the CJEU judges trust: a new approach in the judicial construction of Europe

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the relevance of judicial trust in international courts, focusing onnational judges’trust in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). EU scholars haveput a great deal of effort into explaining how legal and political factors affect the use of preliminaryreferences by national courts. However, there is still a gap in the literature on the development oftrust as a functional principle encouraging co-operation between national and international courts.This article explores the nature, causes and potentials of judicial trust for the EU judicial system. Atheory is offered in the article, which links national judges’trust in the CJEU to their corporatistidentification and profile, to their attitudes towards the EU, and to their beliefs about the CJEU’sability to provide decisions that: 1) offer a clear guidance on European Union law, and 2) willnot undermine Member States’legal order.