Conventionality and constitutionality

The precedence given by the organic legislator to the priority preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality over questions of conventionality that could be raised either with the judge dealing with the substance of the case, the Council of State or the Court of Cassation, has been the source of the initial difficulties in implementing the new mechanism. In particular, the compatibility of the arrangement with the requirements of the primacy of Community law and of the possibility / obligation of the reference for a preliminary ruling has led to contradictory interpretations which have produced antinomic rulings by the Court of Cassation, the Constitutional Council, the Council of State and the Court of Justice of the European Union. However, it seems possible to reconcile the different approaches under certain conditions without challenging the logic of the French version of the priority preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality. Adapted from the source document.