Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the way in which the Court of Justice of the European Union in its judgement C-19/23 reconstructed the relation between freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining in the context of Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The author points out that by upholding Directive 2022/2041 in force the Court clearly separates these categories, treating the right to collective bargaining as different from freedom of association. While it is a solution to the issue of competency, it raises questions regarding cohesion of the European standard of collective rights in the context of three normative orders: EU, Strasbourg and international (ILO). The article analyzes the consequences of this distinction which go beyond the issue of the scope of EU competences.