DOI: 10.47743/jss-2025-71-3-19

Faculty of Law, University of Craiova.

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the relationship between the protection of fundamental rights and the dual legal loyalty arising from a state's membership in the European Union: loyalty to the national constitutional order, on the one hand, and to European values and standards, on the other. At the core of this dilemma lies state sovereignty, increasingly challenged by the pressure for European uniformity in the field of fundamental rights—pressure often exacerbated by the current political climate.

The article explores how this tension manifests at both legal and institutional levels, starting from citizens' growing distrust in the current institutional architecture of the state and continuing with an analysis of the relationship between national and European courts, with particular focus on recent jurisprudence from the Romanian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

Furthermore, the role of existing preventive mechanisms—such as a priori constitutional review or European anticipatory protection mechanisms—is examined as potential instruments to balance these two forms of legal loyalty.

Through this approach, the paper offers a critical reflection on the future of the relationship between the state and the Union, raising essential questions about sovereignty, legitimacy, and the coherent functioning of the rights protection system in Europe. The conclusion emphasizes the need for genuine legal dialogue and pragmatic harmonization—capable of respecting the constitutional specificity of member states without undermining their commitments within the European framework.

Keywords: Fundamental rights, constitutional loyalty, national sovereignty, european values, preventive mechanisms

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