sec_3__para__3

The Court based itself on Article 1(3) of the Directive, read in the light of Article 4(2) TEU. Under the latter provision, ‘the Union is to respect […] their essential State functions, including ensuring the territorial integrity of the State, maintaining law and order and safeguarding national security’. That provision also states that national security is to remain the sole responsibility of each Member State. The Court pointed out that the principal tasks of the armed forces of the Member States, which are the preservation of territorial integrity and safeguarding national security, are expressly included among the essential functions of the State (80). Although the organisation of the working time of military personnel does not entirely escape the application of EU law, Article 4(2) TEU requires that the application to such personnel of the rules of EU law relating to the organisation of working time does not hinder the proper performance of those essential functions. In addition, EU law must duly take into consideration the specific features a Member State imposes on the functioning of its armed forces, whether they result, inter alia, from the particular international responsibilities of that Member State, from the conflicts or threats with which it is confronted, or from its geopolitical context (81).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.