Friendly takeover, or: The power of the 'first word': The German constitutional court embraces the charter of fundamental rights as a standard of domestic judicial review

Abstract

Five decades of interaction between the Bundesverfassungsgericht and the Court of Justice - Reversal of the Solange decisions - Jurisdictional upgrade of the Charter under domestic constitutional law - Continuity of the ultra vires and constitutional identity caveats - Differences between the First and Second Senate in the approach towards EU law - Preliminary references as a new normality - Projection of the experience and doctrinal rigour of the German fundamental rights case law on the European level - 'Primary' application of the Grundgesetz as pragmatic guidance - Gradual evolution of overarching standards - Ordinary courts as an institutional counterbalance to the Bundesverfassungsgericht - Insistence on leeway for relative national autonomy in the interpretation and application of the Charter.