The Spanish courts upheld their decision in the final instance, and Real Madrid subsequently began to enforce the claim in France. According to the enforcement agreement in force at the time, the claim would also have had to be enforced if there had been no violation of French public policy. National public policy is determined by fundamental domestic values and, even under the current enforcement regulation, is the only substantive objection that can be raised against the enforcement of a decision from an EU member state. The French court, which was responsible for enforcement under the rules in force at the time, refused recognition; The soccer club appealed against this decision and the French Supreme Court, the Cour de Cassation, referred the case to the ECJ:

On October 4, 2024 (C 633/22), the ECJ ruled that disproportionately high damages could violate freedom of the press if they deterred the media from reporting on matters of public interest. The findings on this matter were to be made by the national court. However, for a violation of public policy to be assumed, there must be a “clear” violation of Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. On May 28, 2025, the Cour de Cassation ruled on the basis of the ECJ guidelines: It overturned the French court's ruling, which had refused enforcement, and referred the case to another chamber. The latter is now to examine, in particular, the proportionality of the financial penalty. The regional court had not made any findings, for example, regarding the journalist's income situation. The Spanish decision is therefore not to be reviewed in its entirety, but only in terms of the amount of the payment. If the findings show that the journalist will be practically unable to meet the claim due to his income, this would constitute an “obvious” violation of press freedom.