Browsing by Author "Surenkin, Anton Eliel"

A market that operates without borders can be difficult to accept, because there are certain social expectations that are intertwined with national history and culture. This thesis examines how the concepts public policy, security and interest function as justifiable restrictions on the free movement of services in the European Union. This thesis is divided into five main chapters. In the first part, provisions governing the free movement of services are examined as the legal framework provides a foundation for understanding the judgments of the Court. After this, different justifications recognized by EU law are identified: Article 52 TFEU (public policy and public security) and the judge-made ‘overriding reasons in the public interest’ doctrine. Finally, the relationship between the express derogations and judge-made exceptions is examined in order to understand, if there are some inherent differences as to how the justifications operate. The emphasis is on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, because the Treaty provisions are rather vague and open to interpretation. There is also no meaningful way to comprehensively explain what the con-cept of public policy, public security or public interest is per se, because every society has a different take. As a result, examining the case law is the only way to find out how these abstract institutions function, and how they can be invoked when Member States want to protect important national interests. The thesis ultimately suggests that there is some ambiguity in the case law; concerning the relationship between Article 52 TFEU and the doctrine of ‘overriding reasons in the public interest’.