A Legal and Political Interpretation of Articles 215 (2) of the Treaty of Rome

The aims of this monograph are first and foremost, to attempt to examine Article 215(2) of the Treaty of Rome and the effective protection of the individual in community law. In doing so, it explores some theoretical repercussions emanating from the research. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach, as the authors argue that interdisciplinary analysis is the way forward if we are to understand the different, yet interrelated, aspects of the European integration process.;One of the most popular topics for analysis, debate and research amongst EU politicians and legal practitioners, has been the issue of the effective protection of the individual from the point of view of EU law. It is widely accepted that the Treaties and secondary Community legislation have been restricting the access of the individual to justice.;One of the few remedies introduced by the Treaties, which allows direct access to the European Courts, can be found in Article 215(2). This book supports the view that the doctrine of concurrent liability, already established through case law of the ECJ and the CFI, can serve in this direction. In fact, one of the main arguments of this book is that it is precisely the state liability doctrine and its principles which may now award the so far utopian concurrent liability doctrine, theoretical soundness and practical realism.;From a theoretical point of view, the book examines the repercussions of the effective protection of the individual in EU law as it has developed through a series of court rulings. In particular, it examines the theoretcial implications of two competing hypotheses about the development of the effective protection of the individual in EU law through Article 215(2). The first is that the effective judicial protection of the individual can be achieved through legal actions before the national courts, following the state liability scenario. The second hypothesis is that the effective judicial protection of the individual can only be guaranteed through direct actions before the European Courts.