Legal Certainty and Legitimate Expectation in EU Law

Abstract

European Union law is a legal system which has its own institution of adopting legislative acts, governing bodies and judicial review guarantying the operating of the system under its principles. According to the founding treaties European Union operating is based on its principles as well as on the common constitutional traditions of the Member States which form the general principles of the Union Law. All the constitutions of the Member States are based on Rule of Law; subsequently the general principles of the Union Law derived from rule of law. Legal certainty and legitimate expectation is a central issue and important principle of the rule of law. Subject of this paper will be analysing the implementation of the Legal certainty and legitimate expectation as general principle of the EU law, through the case law developed by Court of Justice of the European Union as the institution which has the exclusive competence to ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaties the law is observed and the sole competence to declare an act of an EU institution to be invalid. Analysing the application of this principle will help understanding better the rule of law as main criteria for Albania in its path toward the EU integration.