The complex features of the EU system of judicial protection and its effectiveness on the
side of the individual have been raising over time more and more interest among scholars.
Effective judicial protection is an essential element in all legal orders, in so far as it allows
individuals to enforce their rights and obtain redress. The European Union is no exception.
Conferring of an increasing number of rights liable to be claimed by individuals
and being characterised by a rather complex system of legal remedies, construed upon a
complementary role of the Court of Justice of the European Union and national courts,
the EU faces an urgent need of finding a way to ensure effectiveness of judicial protection
within its legal order. Against this background, the present contribution aims at addressing
the consistency and the relevance of the EU general principle which should fulfil this
need. The principle of effective of judicial protection was drawn by the Court of Justice
from a fundamental right enshrined in the common constitutional principles of Member States and protected by Articles 6 and 13 ECHR, as well as by Article 47 of the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights. As interpreted and applied by the Court, such principle is intended as
imposing on both Member States and EU institutions an obligation to provide the claims
with adequate procedural tools, against or beyond those provided, respectively, by national
and EU law. The study offers an insight on the consistency of the principle with particular
reference to its impact on national law, and proposes a reconstruction where its nature as
expression of a fundamental right of the individual is enhanced. After having illustrated
the sources and the scope of application of the principle in general terms, the analysis turns
to its various applications , elaborated over time by the Court of Justice. The core part of the
contribution offers a crytical analysis of selected case–law of the Court of Justice, paying
particular attention to the judicial scrutiny that the different applications of the principle
may entail. The purpose is pointing out a certain evolution towards an approach where
the principle of effective judicial protection seems to be intended by the Court as the source
of a fundamental right of the individual, protected as such by the EU legal order. On these
grounds, the conclusive remarks will point out the advantages and the challenges that this
approach may imply, in terms of providing for adequate remedies for the individual while
granting, at the same time, effectiveness of EU law and coherence within the different levels
of judicial protection.
