The interim protection of individuals before the European and national courts

This thesis focuses on the interim protection of the individual in the Community legal order. An analysis will be made of the avenues available to individuals for requesting interim relief when a case is brought before the European or the national courts. An extensive examination of the relevant case law will be performed to reveal what appears to be an evolving concept of the individual's interim protection in the European Community structure and to suggest any possible changes in order to guarantee an effective remedy of interim relief Therefore the analysis starts with the examination of applications for interim relief before the European courts, as provided by Article 242 and 243 EC Treaty. In order to comprehend the function and effectiveness of interim relief it is essential to illustrate the nature of such protection in a European legal system. Furthermore through an exhaustive number of cases it is going to be clarified, whether the conditions for interim relief provided by the Treaty focus on the protection of the individual's Community rights or whether the European courts have minimised the number of successful applications for interim relief This thesis then proceeds by analysing in detail the complex situation where individuals seek to protect provisionally their Community rights before a national court. This research begins by outlining the extensive case law of the ECJ on the judicial protection of Community rights before national jurisdictions. It continues by examining in depth the important cases of the European and national courts (Factortame, Zuckerfabrik, Atlanta), which developed the concept and the conditions of interim relief before national courts. Through this analysis it is going to be shown that it is difficult to suggest that the individual's protection before national courts has been effectively prompted