Web-Companion Essential EU Law in Text: Suggested solutions to the exercises
Please find hereinafter the suggested solutions to the 64 exercises contained in the book "Tobler/Beglinger, Essential EU Law in Text, 5th edition, HVG-ORAC 2020, ISBN 978-963-258-490-4". To give you an idea how the exercises in the book are phrased, they have been added for the first three instances. Any comments or feedback are welcome.The nature of the EU and EU law – Exercise 2
Suggested solution:
In order to succeed, Ms. Henonen’s claim must be well founded and it must be possible for her to rely on the relevant provision of EU law before a national court. The Court has held long ago, in Defrenne II, that the principle of equal pay under what is now Art. 157 TFEU is directly effective, i.e. it fulfils the conditions of being clear and precise, unconditional and leaving no legislative discretion to the Member States. Ms. Henonen can rely on this judgment, without having to make any arguments regarding the conditions for direct effect.
In Defrenne II, the Court also held that direct effect exists both in vertical and horizontal situations. Accordingly, it does not make a difference if Ms. Henonen’s employer is a private enterprise such as a supermarket. Note: this would be different in other contexts where the prohibition of discrimination in relation to pay is based on a directive rather than on a Treaty provision (e.g. under Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC; see the next exercise question).
[Relevant Charts: Chapter 6, in particular Charts 6/3-6/6, further Chart 10/3]
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