Liability of Member States for Violations of European Union Law in the Field of Legislation: Jurisprudence of the Supreme Courts of Lithuania

Santrauka

The article analyzes and evaluates the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter – European Court of Justice, CJEU), which establishes the basis, criteria and conditions of the liability of Member States’ for violations of European Union law. The article further analyses the jurisprudence of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania and the Supreme Court of Lithuania in cases adjudicated on the violation of European Union (hereinafter – also the EU) law, caused by the actions (inaction) of an entity entitled to adopt normative legal acts, and the compensation of the injured persons. Document analysis and comparative methods are used. The article leads to a conclusion that in deciding on violations of EU law committed by the actions (inaction) of an entity entitled to adopt normative legal acts, case-law of the highest tier courts of Lithuania adheres to the jurisprudence of the CJEU. However, the methods of resolving the aforementioned disputes differ in the practice of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania and the Supreme Court of Lithuania. The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania directly follows and evaluates the criteria of Member States’ responsibility established and developed in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Lithuania often uses another path: the court recognizes the inconsistency of national provisions with the EU law, assesses whether individuals are granted rights by the EU law provisions, refuses to apply provisions of national law that are in conflict with the EU regulation and seeks to interpret national legal provisions in a manner that they were in line with the goals pursued by the provisions of EU law.