[en] The following article will assess the real extent of the potential liability of the European Union.
It will fi rstly focus on the recognition and the development by the EU Courts of the conditions
which must be fulfi lled in order for the EU to incur liability for the acts of its institutions. It will be
emphasised in this regard that, as the EU Courts’ case-law currently stand, the criteria for Union
liability can differ, depending on a number of variables including whether the contested acts of its
institutions are lawful or unlawful, whether the issue concerns an administrative or a legislative
misconduct and fi nally depending on the degree of discretion that the institutions enjoy. It will
thus be pointed out that the Union liability is supposed to be incurred not only for illegal acts of its
institutions, but also for their valid legal acts. It will be emphasised that the issue of Union liability
for its Courts’ decisions has also been stressed in the case-law. Two further hypotheses of Union
liability will be dealt, namely Union liability for acts of its civil servants in the performance of their
duties and the liability of the Union for damage caused to EU offi cials.
Keywords: EU liability; non-contractual liability; contractual liability; conditions of liability;
EU Courts case-law