Article 4 TEU on the Relationship Between the EU and the Member States

Article 4 TEU is the framework for relations between the Member States and the EU. It lays down the fundamental principles governing this relationship: conferral (pr.1), equality between Member States and respect for their national identity (pr. 2), the principle of loyal cooperation (pr. 3). These principles are not new and the oldest, the principle of loyal cooperation, dates back to the Coal and Steel Treaty. This article analyses each paragraph of Article 4 TEU in the light of the case-law of the ECJ, with particular attention to national identity, as soon as the grounds for derogation from EU law raised by the national courts have to be accepted or rejected by the CJEU. The article also addresses the relationship between national identity and European values.