The reference points of EU judicial politics

Explanations of the dynamics of EU judicial politics must also account for its incidence. Incidence relies on a relationship between three arenas – those for norm-setting, litigation and judgments – with each conditioning the possibilities for action in the others. Through a study of all 2007–2009 preliminary rulings we find two predominant dynamics here. ‘Patrol norms’ dedicated to securing common policies give rise to low salience judgments dominated by transnational enterprise and national administration litigation. ‘Thickly evaluative norms’ are concerned with articulating certain values. Dominated by litigation by domestic undertakings and non-commercial actors, these norms generate the Court's most salient judgments.