The CJEU’s Judgment in European Commission v. United Kingdom: A Tale of Truisms, Omissions, and Judicial Fictions

The Micula-saga continues to haunt the relationship of EU state aid law and ICSID Convention. Apparently, even the Brexit of the United Kingdom was insufficient to solve the legal deadlock. That at least seems to be the view taken by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), who recently held that the UK violated its obligations under EU law by declaring the Micula-award enforceable. In doing so, the CJEU not only ignored the multilateral compliance nature of the obligation to enforce arbitral awards under Article 54 ICSID Convention, but also jumped quite some hurdles in relation to other issues of EU law. All in all, a tale of truism, omissions and judicial fictions.