University:
University College London
Course:
LAWS0014 | European Union Law
Academic year:

2024
Views:

366

Pages:

2
Author:

Nam B.

The Constitutional Court's Uneven Road From EU Accession To Sovereignty Control Presented by: Prof. Dr. Varga and Dr. Berkes Date: 13 December 2022 Constitution Of 1949 - Article 2/A. • (1) By virtue of treaty, the Republic of Hungary, in its capacity as a Member State of the European Union, may exercise certain constitutional powers jointly with other Member States to the extent necessary in connection with the rights and obligations conferred by the treaties on the foundation of the European Union and the European Communities (hereinafter referred to as 'European Union'); these powers may be exercised independently and by way of the institutions of the European Union. • (2) The ratification and promulgation of the treaty referred to in Subsection (1) shall be subject to a two-thirds majority vote of the Parliament. Constitutional Court's Approach - Avoided answering the question - Only examined the constitutionality of the legislation implementing EU law - Did not examine the interpretation of EU law - Explicitly stressed that it has not examined the validity of the directive in question or the adequacy of its implementation - Consistently avoided the use of the word sovereignty - Found that it lacked competence concerning EU law aspects - The conflict of norms raised in relation to EU law was not a constitutional issue BASIC APPROACH OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AFTER 2012 - After transition until the Fundamental Law: formal rule of law based on legal certainty (Decision 31/1990. (ΧΙΙ. 18.) AB) - Under the Fundamental Law: • Substantive rule of law • Constitutional identity (Amendment no. 7) • Interpretation in conformity with achievements of the Historical Constitution (Art. R) DECISION NO. 22/2016 (ΧΙΙ. 5.) AB - The Constitutional Court may examine upon a relevant motion in the course of exercising its competences whether the joint exercise of powers under Article E) (2) of the Fundamental Law would violate human dignity, another fundamental right, the sovereignty of Hungary or its identity based on the country's historical constitution. - Reasoning: • [60] Since by joining the European Union, Hungary has not surrendered its sovereignty, it (...) should be presumed when judging upon the joint exercising of further competences additional to the rights and obligations provided in the Founding Treaties of the European Union (the principle of maintained sovereignty). - Concurring opinion: • [110] Constitutional identity is not a universal legal value, it is a feature of specific States and of their communities, of the nation, that does not apply (the same way) to other nations. (...) the values that make up the identity (...) are legal facts that cannot be waived neither by way of an international treaty nor with the amendment of the Fundamental Law, because legal facts cannot be changed through legislation.