INFORMATION AND ANALYTICAL SECTOR
of CONSTITUTIONAL COURT of UKRAINE
01033, Kyiv, Zhylianska, 14
tel. 238-10-80, 238-10-25
fax. 287-36-16
Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin and judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Kolisnyk took part in the international conference "Judicial Activism of Constitutional Court in a Democratic State"
The importance of the topic of the conference is caused by the fact that in practice constitutional courts often penetrate the competence of constitutional legislator, resolving issues of constitutional law instead the legislator.
Excessive intervention of legislator or other bodies in the activity of constitutional court can not be justified by dissatisfaction with court rulings. To avoid a situation where, legislator and therefore a part of the community discusses and decides on the impact on the activity of constitutional court, it is important to understand and be aware and explain the limits of actions of constitutional courts.
President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Aldis Laviņšaddressed the audience, outlining the prospects of the Constitutional Court of the Republicof Latvia. The representative of the Venice Commission Tanja Gerwien stressed the importance of mutual cooperation of constitutional courts and the role of the Venice Commission in promoting this cooperation.
During the first session reports were presented by the former President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria, expert of the Venice Commission Evgeni Tanchev("Once more on judicial activism or constitutional court between negative and positive legislator"), who outlined in general terms the national and international dimension of the considered issue; judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Sanita Osipova ("The rule of law state or "state of judges"?) and the judge of the Constitutional Court of Belgium PierreNihoul ("Activism of the Constitutional Court of Belgium").
Judge S.Osipova outlined three different legal concepts of the rule of law in Europe: English, French and German. She said that manifestations of each concept are different but they have the same goal and require highly skilled judges.
Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Kingdom of Belgium Pierre Nihoul informed about the jurisdiction of the Belgian Constitutional Court dividing it into two types: the division of powers between the Federation and the Government, and the protection of fundamental human rights. He also stressed the basic principles of each of the mentioned areas.
The second session was initiated by the former President of the ECHR Dean Spielmann who spoke on the "Exposure of the myth of judicial activism through the dialogue with national courts: Strasbourg experience" in which he stressed on the role of national and international judicial dialogue.
In her presentation on "Activism of the constitutional courts of Europe: whether it really exists?" Vice President of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Portugal Maria Lúcia Amaral was trying to find the answer to three questions: 1) Is judicial activism good or bad? 2) What are the criteria for determining judicial activism? 3) How to protect oneself from "imperfect judicial activism?".
The third section included the speeches of the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union Koen Lenaerts on "Mutual trust, mutual recognition and protection of fundamental rights in the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union", judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany Gabriele Britz "Activism of constitutional courts as an objective necessity" and President of the Constitutional Court of AustriaGerhart Holzinger "Activism of constitutional courts in the democratic state - the position of Austria".
The last session was held in the form of round table and chaired by the judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Ineta Ziemele, during which participants discussed the activism of constitutional courts, its content and limits, the impact of the competence of the Constitutional Court on its activism, ways in which the activism of constitutional courts may be limited, principles of judicial self-restraint, the concept of activism in various areas of law (social law, tax law, policy in the area ofpenalties, etc.), activism of the European Court of Human Rights and the attitude to it of the constitutional courts, and view of the European Court on Human Rights on the activism of constitutional courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union assessment of constitutional courts activism and others.
The conference was attended by the President of the Republic of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Aldis Laviņš, representatives of the constitutional courts of Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Ukraine, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, European Court of Human Rights, Court of Justice of the European Union, European Commission for Democracy through Law, Council of Europe.
The event was organiSed by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia in co-operation with the European Commission for Democracy through Law.
