The Grand Chambre of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its judgement in the landmark case KUBERA v. the Republic of Slovenia (C-144/23).

The CJEU ruled that Article 267, Paragraph 3 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) must be interpreted as precluding national courts and tribunals of final instance from refusing to grant leave to appeal without first considering whether a question concerning the interpretation or validity of EU law should be submitted for a preliminary ruling.

Furthermore, the CJEU emphasized that national courts must provide clear reasons when refusing to refer such questions. According to the CJEU’s settled case law, a court of final instance may refuse to refer questions if they are irrelevant to resolving the dispute if the provision of EU law in question has already been interpreted by the Court (acte éclairé), or if the correct interpretation is so clear that there is no room for reasonable doubt (acte clair).

In the context of Slovenian law, this means that the Slovenian Supreme Court will need to consider parties' arguments and proposals for referring questions to the CJEU and must provide reasons if it declines to do so. This ruling is expected to significantly impact the Supreme Court’s judicial practice in Slovenia. The CJEU’s judgment will affect all legal orders of other Member States which envisage a system of leave to appeal.

This will significantly affect the reasoning of the Slovenian Supreme Court's decisions, as up until now, the Supreme Court has rejected applications for leave to appeal with only a brief statement that the leave is not granted. This change will have a major impact on the dialogue between the CJEU and national courts, and it will also be important for the parties involved, as they can only understand the significance of the decision through a reasoned explanation, which is a fundamental right under Article 47 of the EU Charter.

In our Law Firm, we recognize the importance of EU law in our daily legal work and practice. The CJEU’s judgement provides lawyers with a new avenue and broadens the possibilities for protecting clients' rights, while also adding the responsibility of thoroughly understanding and consistently applying EU law in our daily practice.

For more information, feel free to contact our experts or read more about the CJEU ruling following the link below.