The question of how we should perceive the role of domestic courts in the EU political system remains unanswered: Are national courts promoting EU norms or protecting Member States’ legislation? I shed new light on this matter by conducting a comparative study of the national courts’ behavior specifically investigating (1) in what types of cases national courts request preliminary rulings and (2) what opinions that they are including in those requests for rulings. The preliminary results indicate that the national courts’ behavior comes closer to the predictions made by judicial empowerment and its claim that the courts support the EU law rather than the national legislation. However, the results also suggest that the national courts appear to be trying to please both the European Court of Justice and the Member State, by referring so-called "politically sensitive cases" and, at the same time, including opinions supporting the national law.
