Is Autonomy a Foundational Doctrine of EU Law?

The view proposed in this contribution is that autonomy does not fit well with primacy and direct effect in the category of "foundational doctrines" of the European Union (EU) legal order. Its role as a distinct legal norm is almost non-existent at the internal level, that is, in constructing the legal relationship between the EU legal order and the national legal orders of the Member States. By contrast, autonomy is an important doctrine in EU external relations law, informing the European Court of Justices' (ECJs') case law that deals with the conditions under which the European Union can enter international law obligations or is bound by them. Also there, however, it usually operates in the background, as a generic norm that provides the Court with arguments in the defence of the essential characteristics of the EU legal order against threats that originate from the EUs' action on the international scene.