Purely internal situations: is the ECJ going full-circle?

This talk focuses on purely internal situations as a ground for inadmissibility of preliminary rulings originating in cases with no factual cross-border elements. The main argument is that the ECJ case-law developed a traditional approach, linking admissibility of preliminary reference to the presence of factual cross-border elements in the main proceedings, then embraced an expansionist approach, where it employed theoretical arguments to rule on cases involving purely internal situations, and has recently shifted towards a reflexive approach, whereby it applies the same theoretical arguments in a concrete fashion, so as to filter out references involving purely internal situations.