The EU law principle of proportionality and judicial review: its origin, development, dissemination and the lessons to be learnt from the EU Court of Justice

Although the Court of Justice has certainly been inspired by the German model of judicial review of proportionality, it is equally sure now that, during the last six decades, a judicial review of the proportionality characteristic of the European Union has taken shape in the CJEU case-law. When reviewing the proportionality of a decision/act the CJEU will limit itself to assessing that the choice made was within the range of what could legitimately have been (the decision legitimately possible within that margin of assessment reserved for the legislator/Public Administration) and is not willing to put forward what the judge would have wanted/preferred this decision to be. This especially in contexts where there is uncertainty and unpredictability as to the possible evolution and the “appropriate balance” is a delicate one, indeed.