Reconceptualising the Internal Effect of EU Law in Horizontal Disputes

Abstract Examining the role of direct effect and consistent interpretation in the context of horizontal relationships—contractual or otherwise—this article argues that understanding of EU law’s internal effect must be reconsidered when relationships are purely horizontal. It seeks to capture, frame, and conceptualise that effect by setting out three scenarios in which no national provision is disapplied and in which the breach of EU law arises solely from the conduct of a private party. It reflects on the CJEU’s role in redefining core principles of the EU legal order, and calls for less argumentative minimalism and more explicit and fully developed legal reasoning where such principles are at stake.