Coincidence of human rights review by national and European courts – Courts questioning and delimiting each other's jurisdiction – Evolution of judicial review of legislation in Belgium and France – Rules giving priority to national human rights review over European human rights review – Melki judgment Court of Justice – Conformity with Union law – Balance between effectiveness of EU review and effectiveness of constitutional review – Effectiveness of human rights – Obligatory a priori human rights review of secondary Union law

On 21 January 2009 the Belgian Constitutional Court terminated a long-lasting dispute over the conditions for affiliation to the care insurance scheme established by the Flemish Community. What started out as a classical conflict over the division of competences in Belgium resulted in a discussion about the impact of European Community (EC) law on the constitutional autonomy of the member states. Despite the entanglement between Belgian constitutional law and EC law, the Flemish care insurance case reveals the different perspectives of both legal orders. In this case, the dialogue between the Belgian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) through the preliminary ruling procedure could not prevent reverse discrimination.

Belgian Constitutional Court beats all in referrals to EU Court – How come? – Origin and evolution of Belgian federalism – Permanent reform – Modest origins of present constitutional court – Use of Belgian and EC law to widen its channels – Identification of Belgian constitutional rules with EC rules – Statutory extension of Court's powers – Use of techniques in referral of Advocaten voor de Wereld – Translation of national constitutional issue into a European one – EC law-driven constitutional evolution in Belgium – Eventual undermining of Belgian constitutional principles