This book corresponds in its core to my Ph.D dissertation which was submitted at the Catolica Global School of Law in October 2012 and discussed publicly in July 2013. Attention is drawn to the following methodological options: a) The dissertation includes apart from the main text, one table of cases, one table of legislation, one table of abbreviations, one table of correspondence, the abstract and the list of bibliographic references; b) Apart from the introduction and conclusion, the dissertation is divided in two main parts, each of them divided in three chapters; c) The numbering of the chapters is autonomous in each part; d) For the sake of simplification, clarity and consistency, all bibliographic references included in footnotes follow the same pattern: AUTHOR(S)' LAST NAME, Title (for books) or "Title" (for articles/working papers), year of publication, relevant page(s); e) Bibliographic references in the same footnote are indicated by chronological order (starting with the oldest), and in case of references of the same year by alphabetical order of the author(s)' name; f) Full bibliographic references may be found in the final list of references; g) Cases are referred to in the main text according to their short designation, and are identified in footnotes only the first time they are mentioned in the text; h) In footnotes, references to cases are included in full and said references may also be found in the table of cases; i) Cases are indicated in footnotes by chronological order following the corresponding number of process regardless of the court which decided them and the date of the final decision; j) All the CJEU's cases cited are available in the Court's website (www. curia.eu); k) Legal acts are referred to in short, with full reference being included in the table of legislation; l) The use of italics is restricted to words, sentences or quotations in foreign languages and/or to highlight concepts or ideas, and are therefore of the sole responsibility of the author; m) Quotations are made in the original language and identified in quotation marks; n) For the sake of simplification, the correspondence between the old and current numbering of the Treaty provisions is not made in the text. The reader should be aware of the Tables of Correspondence annexed to the Amsterdam and Lisbon Treaties. The book includes a table with the most cited provisions throughout the text; o) The academic research which grounded the dissertation was concluded around the end of the first semester of 2012. This Ph.D is the result of several years of committed academic research, some travelling (New York, London, Germany, Madrid and Luxembourg), hard working days and sleepless nights. Such work would not have been possible without the love and friendship of many people amongst family, friends and colleagues. Given the impossibility of naming all of them, a "collective" acknowledgment for their support is hereby due. I must thank in particular to Professor Rui Medeiros from Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Professor Piet Eeckhout from University College London, and Professor Miguel Poiares Maduro from Instituto Universitario Europeo for their contribution, encouragement and patience throughout the process. Also, a word is due to the partners at Campos Ferreira, Sa Carneiro & Associados for their endorsement in the publication of this book. Lastly, I owe a very special thank you to my parents for many years of hard parenting work (and not enough recognition), and to my husband, Miguel, for brightening up my days and making my life so much better. This book is dedicated to him and our daughter, Maria Clara, who was born in the meantime, and whose existence gave life a whole different meaning.