The first Portuguese Constitutional Court ruling on supremacy of EU law: the wait is finally over

In July 2020, the Portuguese Constitutional Court delivered its first ruling on the scope of the principle of supremacy of EU law in the Portuguese legal order. A much awaited decision, the ruling aimed at establishing a general criterion on the interpretation of Article 8(4) of the national Constitution destined to be applied in future cases. The purpose of the present chapter is to analyse the main arguments put forward by the Court and reflect on the shortcomings of the decision. Indeed, despite being a very extensive ruling, there are particularly significant absences and conceptual flaws therein that should not be ignored in order to better understand the relationship between EU law and national law.