Role Perceptions of Supreme Courts in the Implementation of EU Law

With the aim to understand the mechanisms in the implementation of EU law in individual member states, the paper relies on data from interviews to explore role perceptions and problem definitions in the everyday practices of Supreme Court judges in Norway and Sweden. Member state judiciaries are subject to what has been named a dual loyality in the everyday practice; they are to follow national as well as European law. Although theoretically they should align, in practice, judges are expected to reconcile two layers of law through individual assessments and decisions on an everyday basis. This study uses qualitative data to map the role perceptions of individual judges in the Swedish and Norwegian Supreme Courts. Results are discussed in relation to instrumental, advocate or conciliatory modes of incorporating EU law and the implications of the findings for European integration.