Serhiy Holovaty. Constitutional lessons from the past and from the future. From the national constitution to transnational constitutionalism : international conference (25 October 2022, Vilnius). Vilnius : Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, 2024. P. 216-223.
Annotation:
Since the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe from totalitarian Soviet rule, the so-called “new democracies” have become members of the Council of Europe and adhered to the foundational values - democracy, human rights and the rule of law. More than half of them also joined the European Union, which shares the same foundational values. Practice showed that, since 2000, some of these countries have experienced the deterioration of democratic rule and Rule of Law backsliding, breaching the foundational values of both the CoE and the EU. The lesson to be learned from the past is that, over the past twenty years, there was a decline of constitutional democracy across the whole of Europe, covering even the European Union, the area where it was least expected. Many terms are in use to describe this phenomenon: abusive constitutionalism, populist constitutionalism, bad faith constitutionalism, de-constitutionalism, constitutional retrogression, constitutional rot, constitutional decay, democratic backsliding, democratic erosion, democratic recession, authoritarian backsliding, etc. The institutional independence, primarily, of the Judiciary and Constitutional Courts in a number of these countries appeared to be under a threat from the governing party in political institutions. The tools and mechanisms, existing within the CoE or even the EU and aiming to secure respect for the obligations under both Organisations’ constitutive acts, appeared to be ineffective. Having dealt with some lessons from the past, why not to try to consider yet another issue: can history draw lessons from the future? The future that is still being written: we speak about the war of Russia against Ukraine which ends in Moscow’s defeat. This lesson tells us about the danger and cost of democracies doing business with autocrats and dictators. Nowadays Russian fascism has posed a challenge to all humanity. We live in times of a global struggle between two political systems - democracy and autocracy. Thus, if democracy and the rule of law are global values, the struggle for a future world in which they predominate should be accordingly global, as well. The world needs Ukraine’s victory. As far as national sovereignty and democracy are indivisible, this victory will prove that democracy is the best political system, will confirm the value of freedom, and will give a chance to the whole world safety. [ТЕКСТ]
