María Dolores Ortiz Vidal
El asunto Grunkin-Paul, como leading case, ha suscitado numerosas cuestiones controvertidas planteadas por la doctrina. Este trabajo tiene por objeto profundizar en el estudio de la innovación metodológica otorgada por la decisión del TJCE y arrojar luz sobre dichas cuestiones controvertidas. En particular, se examinan aspectos tales como los criterios de aplicación del Derecho Comunitario a los casos de Derecho internacional privado, la incompatibilidad del Derecho alemán con el Derecho comunitario, la incidencia del �principio de no discriminación por razón de la nacionalidad� recogido en el art. 12 TCE en el caso Grunkin-Paul, el impacto del derecho fundamental a la libre circulación y residencia del ciudadano comunitario y del Espacio judicial europeo en este caso y la autonomía de la voluntad de la persona como punto de conexión en materia de nombres y apellidos de las personas físicas.
The Grunkin-Paul decision issued by the Eorupean Court of Justice on October the 14th 2008 has rapidly became a leading case. It has provoked numerous controversial questions underlined by the doctrine of the legal scholars. The aim of this article is to point out the methodological innovation contained in the Grunkin-Paul decision and to shed some light on the above mentioned controversial questions. Especially, this article examines the scope of application of the Community Law with regard to private international law situations, the incompatibility of the German Law with the Community Law in the filed of surnames, the effect of the principle of no-discrimination by nationality as stated by art. 12 of the European Treaty in the Grunkin-Paul judgment, the impact of the free movement of individuals in the EU in this decision as well as the impact of the �Freedom, Security and Justice Area� in the UE. In addition to that, some observations on the party autonomy as a connecting factor in the field of surnames will be made.