The delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine paid a working visit to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, European Court of Human Rights
On December 2-5, 2019 a delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine supported by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) paid a working visit to Germany (Heidelberg, Karlsruhe) and France (Strasbourg).
The delegation was headed by the judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Oleh Pervomaiskyi and included Research Assistants to the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Kristina Airiian, Valeriia Artiukhova, Tetiana Blashchuk, Kateryna Honcharenko, Yulia Yevtoshuk, Oleksandr Konstantyi, Lesia Ponomarenko and Oksana Shostenko, the Head of the Division of Preliminary Examination of Constitutional Complaints of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Vitalii Zaporozhets, Deputy Head of the Department of Processing of Constitutional Complaints of the Legal Directorate of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine – Head of the Division of Legal Support Review of Constitutional Complaints Liubov Ushakova, Chief Consultant of the Division of Legal Support Review of Constitutional Complaints of the Department of Processing of Constitutional Complaints of the Legal Directorate of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Nadiia Chernetska.
In the framework of the event, the delegation visited Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. During the meeting of the delegation with the Research Referent of this Institute, Dr. Matthias Hartwig, the participants discussed the importance of constitutional complaint in the law-based state, the role of researchers in the activities of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and the structure of the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany including practical examples.
During the professional discussion with the German colleagues held at the Federal Constitutional Court, a number of topical issues were raised, in particular, regarding the approaches of the Federal Constitutional Court to resolving the admissibility of constitutional complaints in cases where “the law is not applied in a court decision” or “is applied in unconstitutional way”; the criteria for determining public interest; the criteria for determining abuse of the right to file a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court; the application by the Federal Constitutional Court of the principle of proportionality as an integral part of the rule of law in the course of reviewing cases upon constitutional complaints; the application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union when considering cases by the Federal Constitutional Court; the impact of the decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court on the jurisprudence of other courts; grounds and conditions for compensation of material or non-pecuniary damage caused to natural or legal persons by acts and actions declared unconstitutional.
The following German experts participated in the professional discussion: Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court, Prof. Dr. Henning Radtke, Ministerial Advisor, Head of the Federal Constitutional Court's Judicial Administration Volker Batzke, Justice of the High Court of the Land, Research Assistant to Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court Dr. Julia Strube, Justice of the Local Court, Research Assistant to Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court Jessica Krivald, Justice of the Administrative Court, Research Assistant to Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court Dr. Matthias Bundschuh and other researchers of the Federal Constitutional Court.
In accordance with the programme, members of the delegation also visited Strasbourg, where they attended the hearing of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Mugemangango v. Belgium. In addition, a professional discussion was held with the participation of a Ukrainian researcher (“Lawyer”) at the ECHR on the tasks, structure of the ECHR, and the tasks of “Lawyers” at the European Court of Human Rights.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine expressed gratitude to the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation for constructive cooperation.
