Belgium the limits of Constitutional dialogue for the Prevention of reverse discrimination constitutional Court, Judgment 11/2009 of 21 January 2009

European Constitutional Law Review

Volumn 5, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 327-339

  Van Elsuwege, Peter ^a   Adam, Stanislas ^a,b  

^a GHENT UNIVERSITY   (Belgium)

^b UNIVERSITY OF NAMUR   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 72449212326     PISSN: 15740196     EISSN: 17445515     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1574019609003277     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. See, e.g., T.A.J.A. Vandamme, 'Prochain Arrêt: La Belgique! Explaining Recent Preliminary References of the Belgian Constitutional Court', 4 EuConst (2008) p. 127-148.
2. Cour const., 11/2009, 21 Jan. 2009, para. B.12.3.
3. ECJ 1 April 2008, Case C-212/06, Government of the French Community and Walloon Government v. Flemish Government, n.y.r. For comments
4. see, e.g., P. Van Elsuwege and S. Adam, 'Situations purement internes, discriminations à rebours et collectivités autonomes après l'arrêt sur l'assurance soins flamande', 5-6 CDE (2008), p. 655-711;
5. T. Vandamme, case note in 1 CMLRev. (2009) p. 287-300.
6. See also E. Cannizzaro, 'Producing "Reverse Discrimination" Through the Exercise of EC Competences', Yearbook of European Law (1997) p. 29.
7. C. Ritter, 'Purely internal situations, reverse discrimination, Guimont, Dzodzi and Article 234', 31 ELRev. (2006) p. 691;
8. A. Tryfonidou, 'Reverse Discrimination in Purely Internal Situations: An Incongruity in a Citizens' Europe', 35 LIEI (2008) p. 44.
9. See, e.g., Cannizzaro, supra n. 4;
10. Tryfonidou, supra n. 5;
11. E. Spaventa, 'Seeing the Wood Despite the Trees? On the Scope of Union Citizenship and Its Constitutional Effects', 45 CMLRev. (2008) p. 13-45;
12. A. Iliopoulou, Libre circulation et non-discrimination, éléments du statut de citoyen de l'Union européenne (Brussels, Bruylant (2008) p. 267-317;
13. R. White, 'Free Movement, Equal Treatment and Citizenship of the Union', 4 ICLQ (2005) p. 885-905;
14. N. Shuibhne, 'Free Movement of Persons and Wholly Internal Rule: Time to Move On?', 39 CMLRev. (2002) p. 731-771;
15. S. O'Leary, The Evolving Concept of Community Citizenship. From the Free Movement of Persons to Union Citizenship (The Hague, Kluwer Law International (1996) p. 273-278.
16. On the Belgian constitutional system, see notably M. Uyttendaele, Précis de droit constitutionnel belge: regard sur un système institutionnel paradoxal (Brussels, Bruylant 2005);
17. J. Vandelanotte, S. Bracke, G. Goedertier, België voor beginners: wegwijs in het Belgisch labyrinth (Brugge, Die Keure 2008).
18. Moniteur belge of 28 May 1999, p. 19149.
19. This is because the Flemish Community is only competent towards persons declaring them selves Dutch-speaking in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital.
20. The Court of Arbitration was established in 1983 to decide on questions regarding the divi sion of legislative competences between the federated entities and the federal State. After a gradual extension of its competences, the Court of Arbitration developed into a full-fledged Constitutional Court, which is exclusively competent to test legislation on its compatibility with Belgian constitu tional norms.
21. Cour const., 33/2001, 13 March 2001, paras. B.3.3. to B.3.5. See on the importance of this Judgment for the construction of Belgian federalism, P. Martens, 'Le rôle de Cour d'arbitrage dans l'édification du fédéralisme en Belgique', 1 Revue belge de droit constitutionnel (2003) p. 3 at p. 9 and 10.
22. Moniteur belge of 9 June 2004, p. 43593. The Decree was again amended in 2006 in order to avoid that persons residing outside the European Economic Area (EEA) could benefit from the Flemish care insurance and to take into account the periods of affiliation to a social insurance scheme in other Member States of the EEA. See Moniteur belge of 16 Jan. 2006, p. 2154.
23. Cour const., 51/2006, 19 April 2006, paras. B.1. to B.3.10. This reasoning already appeared in Judgment 33/2001, supra n. 11, para. B.3.3.
24. Ibid., para. B.10.3.
25. On the role of Arts. 10 and 11 of the Belgian Constitution for the incorporation of EC law in the Belgian legal order, see Vandamme supra n. 1.
26. ECJ, Case C-212/06, supra n. 3, paras. 16 to 23.
27. Ibid., para. 58.
28. See, inter alia, ECJ 10 June 2004, Case C-87/02, Commission v. Italy, ECR I-5975, para. 38;
29. ECJ 26 Oct. 2006, Case C-102/06, Commission v. Austria, ECR I-111, para. 9.
30. See, inter alia, ECJ 27 Oct. 1982, Joined Cases 35/82 and 36/82, Morson and Jhanjan, ECR 3723, para. 16;
31. ECJ 22 Sept. 1992, Case C-153/91, Petit, ECR I-4973, para. 8.
32. Opinion of A.G. Sharpston in the Flemish care insurance case (C-212/06) delivered on 28 June 2007, para. 119.
33. Of particular interest is the analogy with the case Carbonati Apuani where the Court pointed out that the internal market, as defined in Art. 14(2) EC, draws no distinction between inter-state frontiers and frontiers within a single State for the prohibition of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect. See ECJ 9 Sept. 2004, Case C-72/03, Carbonati Apuani, ECR I-8027, para. 22.
34. The A.G. stipulated that Art. 18 EC not only includes a right to move but also a right to reside anywhere within the territory of the Union. She expressly invited the Court to clarify whether the application of Art. 18 EC implies that the freedom to reside derives from prior exercise of the freedom to move or whether it is possible to exercise the freedom to reside without first exercising the freedom to move between Member States. See Opinion A.G. Sharpston, supra n. 20, paras. 143-144.
35. ECJ, Case C-212/06, supra n. 3, para. 39.
36. Ibid., para. 40.
37. Cour const., 11/2009, supra n. 2, paras. B.13.2 to B.16.
38. ECJ 16 June 1994, Case C-132/93, Steen v. Deutsche Bundespost, ECR I-2715, paras. 10-11;
39. ECJ 5 June 1997, Case C-64/96, Uecker and Jacquet, ECR I-3171, para. 23.
40. See the legal doctrine mentioned under footnote 6.
41. Opinion of A.G. Sharpston, supra n. 20, paras. 116-118.
42. This line of case-law is based upon practical and conceptual considerations. On the practical side, the Court pointed at the difficulties in distinguishing between products from domestic origin and those from other member states. From a more conceptual point of view, the application of EC law to internal border tariffs stems from the very principle of a customs union. See ECJ 16 July 1992, Case C-163/90, Legros e.a., ECR I-4625, paras. 16-17;
43. ECJ 9 Aug. 1994, Joined Cases C-363 and 407 to 411/93, Lancry e.a., ECR I-3957, paras. 27-29;
44. ECJ 14 Sept. 1995, Joined Cases C-485 et 486/93, Simitzi, ECR I-2655, para. 17;
45. ECJ, Case C-72/03, supra n. 21, para. 22.
46. See the Opinion of A.G. Poiares Maduro in the case Carbonati Apuani (C-72/03) delivered on 6 June 2004, para. 48.
47. See for classical examples of this approach: ECJ 6 June 2000, Case C-281/98, Angonese, ECR I-4139;
48. ECJ 11 July 2002, Case C-60/00, Carpenter, ECR I-6279;
49. ECJ 2 Oct. 2003, Case C-148/02, Garcia Avello, ECR I-11613;
50. ECJ 9 Jan. 2007, Case C-1/05, Jia, ECR I-1.
51. Tryfonidou, supra n. 5, p. 52-53.
52. D. Martin, 'Comments on Gouvernement de la Communauté française and Gouvernement wallon (Case C-212/06 of 1 April 2008) and Eind (Case C-291/05 of 11 December 2007)', 10 EJML (2008) p. 372.
53. It is noteworthy that the A.G. did not expect a reversal of the Court's case-law since only one member state (the Netherlands) intervened in the Flemish care insurance case. See Opinion A.G.\Sharpston, supra n. 20, paras. 156-157.
54. This solution reflects the ECJ's answers to preliminary questions referred to in contexts of at first glance purely internal situations. See for example ECJ 5 Dec. 2000, Case C-448/98, Guimont, ECR I-10663, paras. 20-23.
55. M.P. Maduro, 'The Scope of European Remedies: The Case of Purely Internal Situations and Reverse Discrimination', in C. Kilpatrick, T. Novitz, P. Skidmore (eds.), The Future of Remedies in Europe (Oxford, Hart 2000), p. 138.
56. E. Spaventa, Free Movement of Persons in the European Union. Barriers to Movement in their Constitutional Context (Alphen aan den Rijn, Kluwer Law International 2007) p. 128.
57. See Corte costituzionale, sentenza 16-30 dicembre 1997, n. 443.
58. ECJ, Case C-212/06, supra n. 3, para. 52.
59. Cour const., 51/2006, supra n. 13, para. B.10.3.
60. In the Flemish Ecotax case, for instance, the Belgian Constitutional Court explicitly referred to the case-law of the ECJ for the definition of charges having equivalent effect under Belgian consti tutional law. See Cour const., 55/96, 15 Oct. 1996, paras. B.4.2.5. to B.4.2.7.
61. Vandamme, supra n. 3, p. 295.
62. See, e.g., ECJ 14 July 1988, Case 38/87, Commission v. Hellenic Republic, ECR 4415, para. 16.
63. ECJ, Case C-212/06, supra n. 3, paras. 57 and 58.
64. See also Opinion A.G. Sharpston, supra n. 20, paras. 99-103.
65. See Vandamme, supra n. 3, p. 296-297
66. and Van Elsuwege and Adam, supra n. 3, p. 711.
67. Cour const., 11/2009, supra n. 2, para. B.16.
68. On the relationship between non-discrimination and regional autonomy, see also Judgments 25/91 of 10 Oct. 1991, para. B.4; 37/92, 7 May 1992, para. B.3; 55/92, 9 July 1992, para. 5.B.14; 44/93, 10 June 1993, para. B.3; 35/95, 25 April 1995, B.12.2; 120/98, 3 Dec. 1998, para. B.4 ; 119/2004, 30 June 2004, para. B.4.2 ; 190/2005, 14 Dec. 2005, para. B.4.7. In a case concerning a prohibition set up by the Walloon Region on the detention of protected birds even when born and raised in captivity, the Constitutional Court concluded that the difference of treatment between Belgian citizens resulting from the limited territorial scope of application of this prohibition did not amount to discrimination. The Court considered such a difference a possible result of the exercise of autono mous competences by arious legislators within a federal structure (Cour const., 139/2003, 29 Oct. 2003, para. B.14.2).
69. Vandamme, supra n. 3, p. 298.
70. Art. 4(2) TEU provides that '(t)he Union shall respect the equality of Member States before the Treaties as well as their national identities, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional, inclusive of regional and local self-government'.
71. For a more extensive description of this alternative, see Van Elsuwege and Adam, supra n. 3, p. 704-709.
72. See Opinion A.G. Sharpston, supra n. 20, paras. 117-118.
73. ECJ 6 Sept. 2006, Case C-88/03, Portugal v. Commission, ECR I-7115, paras. 57-58.
74. ECJ 11 Sept. 2008, Joined Cases C-428/06 to 434/06, Union General de Trabajos de la Rioja, n.y.r., para. 51.
75. Significantly, in a recent case on tax reform in Gibraltar, the United Kingdom's residual power to legislate was deemed irrelevant in practice to undermine the procedural autonomy of the Government of Gibraltar in tax matters. See CFI 18 Dec. 2008, Joined Cases T-211 to 215/04, Gibraltar v . Commission, n.y.r., paras. 89-100.