EU Law and Policies: Digital, Green Deal, AFSJ and General EU Law
Law and policy essentials
Know the sources: Treaties, regulations (directly applicable), directives (binding as to result, transposed), decisions, and general principles. Key doctrines: supremacy, direct effect, indirect effect, state liability. Remedies: infringement (Articles 258/260), annulment (263), preliminary reference (267), damages (340). Digital: DSA (content and platform duties), DMA (gatekeepers), Data Act and Data Governance Act, NIS2 (cybersecurity, a directive), Cyber Resilience Act, GDPR (a regulation), LED, ePrivacy. Green Deal: European Climate Law (2050 climate neutrality), Fit for 55, ETS, CBAM, taxonomy. Area of freedom, security and justice: Schengen, Dublin, Europol, Eurojust, Article 7 rule-of-law procedure.
Traps and worked example
Traps: saying a regulation needs transposition (it does not); confusing GDPR with the LED; mixing DSA and DMA; thinking NIS2 is a regulation; assuming the Commission can fine under every instrument; forgetting that directives bind the result, not the form. Worked example: a national law conflicts with a regulation. The regulation prevails; the national judge must disapply the conflicting provision and, where the norm implements a directive, interpret national law consistently with it.