Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T18:11:48.944Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Rise of an Ethnocultural Constitutional Identity in the Jurisprudence of the East Central European Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The recent trend in East Central European jurisprudence is that courts apply an ethnocultural understanding of identity, thereby putting European integration in peril. Although the EU is clearly committed to shared values and principles, Article 4(2) of the Treaty on European Union emphasizes that “the Union shall respect the national identities of the Member States.” Due to the recent migration flow in Europe, the Member States are currently attempting to (re)define themselves and offer a legal definition of identity. East Central European Member States, by labelling ethnocultural national identity as constitutional identity, apply Article 4(2) as a means of derogating from some of their obligations under EU law. Despite the vast literature available on national identity and its role in EU law, little attention has been paid to the recently emerging trend of judicial reinvention of identity in East Central Europe. This is what this Article offers. It focuses on the Visegrád Group, which consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The Visegrád countries (V4) are united in their views on rejecting migrant relocation quotas in the EU and define their exclusionary constitutional identities accordingly. The main subject of the Article is the relevant case law of the V4 constitutional courts. These courts have the authoritative role in enforcing nation-state policies based upon ethnocultural considerations. The Article provides a comparative-analytical description of the judicial interpretations of constitutional identity in these countries based on which we can better understand the recent East Central European trend of disintegration.

Type
Special Issue Constitutional Identity in the Age of Global Migration
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by German Law Journal, Inc. 

References

1 Roberto Toniatti, Sovereignty Lost: Constitutional Identity Regained, in National Constitutional Identity and European Integration 64 (Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz & Carina Alcoberro LLivina eds., 2013).Google Scholar

2 Leonard Besselink, National and Constitutional Identity Before and after Lisbon, 6 Utrecht L. Rev. 37 (2010).Google Scholar

3 See the papers included in the 2016 Symposium of the Journal of Common Market Studies coedited by Dimitry Kochenov, Amichai Magen, and Laurent Pech. See Jan-Werner Müller, Should the EU Protect Democracy and the Rule of Law in Its Member States?, 21 Eur. L.J. (2015).Google Scholar

4 V4 consists of countries with different historical/cultural/linguistic background, it is “not an all round alliance, but a practical ad hoc cooperation platform.” Daniel Hegedŭs, From Front-runners' “EU”phoria to Bockmarkers' “Pragmatic Adhocism”, DGAPanalyse, No. 7 (May 2014), at 13.Google Scholar

5 Joint Declaration by the Prime Ministers of V4 Countries on Migration, Visegrad (July 19, 2017), http://www.visegradgroup.eu/documents/official-statements.Google Scholar

6 ECJ, C-643/15, Slovak Republic and Hungary v. Council of the European Union, ECLI:EU:C:2017:631, Judgment of 6 September 2017.Google Scholar

7 As of 18 August 2017, the Czech Republic launched 50 pledges and relocated 12 people, Slovakia pledged 60 places and relocated 16, Poland pledged 100 but did not relocate anyone. http://europeanstudies.macmillan.yale.edu/news/visegrad-group-factor-stability-central-and-eastern-europe. Hungary refused to pledge any number. See Member States' Support to Emergency Relocation Mechanism, European Union (Oct. 19, 2017), https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/press-material/docs/state_of_play_-_relocation_en.pdf.Google Scholar

8 Ronald Dworkin, law's Empire 410–13 (Hart, 1998).Google Scholar

9 See Gábor Attila Tóth, From Uneasy Compromises to Democratic Partnership: The Prospects of Central European Constitutionalism, 13 Eur. J. L. Reform 1 (2011).Google Scholar

10 See Rosenfeld, Michel, Constitutional Identity, in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law, Oxford UP, 2012, 757.Google Scholar

11 Isaiah Berlin, Personal Impressions 258 (Pimlico, 1998).Google Scholar

12 Max Haller & Regina Ressler, National and European Identity: A Study of Their Meanings and Interrelationships, 47 Revue francaise de sociologie 822 (2006).Google Scholar

13 Furio Cerruti, Political Identity and Conflict: A Comparison of Definitions (Palgrave, 2001).Google Scholar

14 European Commission, The Development of European Identity/Identities: Unfinished Business (2012), at 22.Google Scholar

15 See generally Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Verso, 1991).Google Scholar

16 Friedman, Lawrence M., Introduction: Nationalism, Identity, and Law, 28 Ind. L. Rev. 503 (1995).Google Scholar

17 Isaiah Berlin, European Unity and its Vicissitudes, in Crooked Timber 191–92 (1990).Google Scholar

18 See Troper, Michel, Behind the Constitution?, in Constitutional Topography: Values and Constitutions 201–03 (András Sajó & Renáta Uitz eds., 2010).Google Scholar

19 See José Luis Martí, Two Different Ideas of Constitutional Identity: Identity of the Constitution v. Identity of the People, in National Constitutional Identity and European Integration 24 (Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz & Carina Alcoberro LLivina eds., 2013).Google Scholar

20 See Grewe, Constance, Methods of Identification of National Constitutional Identity, in National Constitutional Identity and European Integration 40 (Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz & Carina Alcoberro LLivina eds., 2013).Google Scholar

21 The Politics of Aristotle 98 (Ernst Baker ed. & trans., Oxford University Press, 1962).Google Scholar

22 Since the Age of Enlightenment, we have been differentiating between constitutions and constitutionalism. When not otherwise indicated, this article applies the concept of a normative constitution which complies with the requirement of constitutionalism. See Waluchow, Wil, Constitutionalism, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Zalta, Edward N. ed., 2014), http://plato.stanford.eedu/archives/spr2014/entries/constitutionalism/.Google Scholar

23 See Jacobsohn, Gary Jeffrey, Constitutional Identity, 68 R. Pol. 361, 364 (2006).Google Scholar

24 See Martí, supra note 19, at 19.Google Scholar

25 John Rawls' well-known expression refers to the principles that structure the government and the basic rights and liberties, not including political issues that are the matters of ordinary legislation. See Rawls, John, Political Liberalism 214, 227–29 (1993).Google Scholar

26 Martí, supra note 19, at 20.Google Scholar

27 See Jürgen Habermas: Citizenship and National Identity, in Globalization: Global Membership and Participation 172 (2003). Constitutional patriotism means an attachment not only to abstract constitutional values. It is also crucial how they were discussed and established in the given democratic context.Google Scholar

28 Jacobsohn, Gary J., The Formation of Constitutional Identities, in Comparative Constitutional Law 131 (Tom Ginsburg & Rosalind Dixon eds., 2011).Google Scholar

29 See Jirí Pribán, Reconstituting Paradise Lost: Temporality, Civility, and Ethnicity in Post-Communist Constitution-Making, 48 L. & Soc. Rev. 408 (2004).Google Scholar

30 The article uses this term in the Dworkinian sense. See Dworkin, Ronald, The Model of Rules, 35 Univ. Chi. L. Rev. 14 (1967).Google Scholar

31 See Constitutional Tribunal [CT], 16 November 2011, K 45/09 (Pol.).Google Scholar

32 See Alkotmánybíróság (AB) 48/1998. (XI. 23.) AB határozat (Hung.).Google Scholar

33 See Czech Constitutional Court Pl. ÚS 5/92, Decision 2943/08 of January 2009 (Cz.).Google Scholar

34 See Constitutional Tribunal [CT], 7 June 1994, K 17/93 (Pol.).Google Scholar

35 See Alkotmánybíróság (AB) 30/1992. (V. 26.) AB határozat (Hung.).Google Scholar

36 But see Wojciech Sadurski, Rights Before Courts: A Study of Constitutional Courts in Postcommunist States of Central and Eastern Europe 233 (2d ed. 2014).Google Scholar

37 For an account on how constitutional identity are guarded by constitutional courts by means of reviewing constitutional amendments, see Kriszta Kovács, Changing Constitutional Identity via Amendment, in Constitutional Acceleration within the European Union and Beyond 199–216 (Paul Blokker ed., 2017).Google Scholar

38 Constitutional Tribunal [CT], 24 November 2010, K 32/09, 2.1 (Pol.) [hereinafter the Lisbon decision of the CT]. Google Scholar

40 In the case of national identity the Slovak political discussion is dominated by Robert Fico's Smer party, the Hungarian discussion by Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, the Polish discussion by Jaroslaw Kaczisky's PiS party, the Czech discussion by Pavel Belobrádek's KDU and Petr Fiala's ODS parties. National Identities in CEE — country case studies, available at http://www.ceeidentity.eu/news/national-0 and http://www.ceeidentity.eu/blog/ten-years-after-0 Google Scholar

41 Tibor Navracsics, ‘A New Constitution for Hungary: Locking in the Values of 1989–1990 Transition, At Last’ (2011) The Wall Street Journal April 19.Google Scholar

43 The second (2010-2014) and third (2014-) Orbán-government and the (2015-) Szydłto-government.Google Scholar

44 See Venice Commission Opinion on the Act CLI of 2011 on the Constitutional Court of Hungary, CDL-AD(2012)009-e, 19 June 2012; Venice Commission Opinion on the Act on the Constitutional Tribunal, CDL-AD(2016)026-e, 14 October 2016.Google Scholar

45 Jan-Werner Müller, Rising to the Challenge of Constitutional Capture, Eurozine (Mar. 21, 2014), http://www.eurozine.com/rising-to-the-challenge-of-constitutional-capture/ (last visited Oct. 25, 2017).Google Scholar

46 This article uses the notions identity review and identity control interchangeably.Google Scholar

47 See Decision II. ÚS 501/2010 of the Slovak Constitutional Court.Google Scholar

48 See ECJ, C-399/09, Marie Landtová v. Česká správa socialnfho zabezpečení, ECLI:EU:C:2011:415, Judgment of 22 June 2011.Google Scholar

49 See Decision 3 Ads 130/2008-204 of the Czech Supreme Administrative Court. The CJEU decision did not require such an outcome. For more on the legal background, see Anagnostaras, Georgios, Activation of the Ultra Vires Review: The Slovak Pensions Judgment of the Czech Constitutional Court, 14 GERMAN L.J. 959 (2013).Google Scholar

50 See Decision Pl. ÚS 5/12 31 January 2012 of the Czech Constitutional Court http://www.usoud.cz/en/decisions/20120131-pl-us-512-slovak-pensions/ [hereinafter Slovak pension decision]. Google Scholar

52 Alkotmánybíróság (AB) 22/2016. (XII. 5.) AB határozat (Hung.), http://hunconcourt.hu/letoltesek/en_22_2016.pdf [hereinafter Identity decision]. Google Scholar

53 The court decision is embedded in a wider national political context, but this article does not go into the details, since the contributions of Balázs Majtényi and Zsolt Körtvélyesi present and analyze the relevant Hungarian political events.Google Scholar

54 See the legally binding National Avowal of the Fundamental Law. See Opinion on the Fundamental Law of Hungary, in Constitution for a Disunited Nation 460–62 (Andrew Arato, Gábor Halmai, János Kis & Tóth GA eds., 2012).Google Scholar

55 Boldizsár Nagy, Hungarian Asylum Law and Policy in 2015–2016: Securitization Instead of Loyal Cooperation, German L.J. 1035 (2016).Google Scholar

56 Id. at 1045.Google Scholar

57 Act CXLII of 2015 on the amendment of the Act LXXX of 2007 on Asylum was adopted to enact the “state of crisis caused by mass migration” and to make it possible to renew the state of crisis indefinitely at six-month intervals. The government declared and prolonged the state of crisis in the following decrees 269/2015, 270/2015, 41/2016, 272/2016, 36/2017, and 247/2017.Google Scholar

58 See Act CLXXV of 2015 on Acting Against the Compulsory Settlement Quota System in Defense of Hungary and Europe.Google Scholar

59 European Commission Press Release, Commission Opens Infringement Procedure Against Hungary Concerning Its Asylum Law (Dec. 10, 2015), http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6228_en.htm. The Commission has found the Hungarian legislation to be partly incompatible with EU law.Google Scholar

60 Orbán: Népszavazás lesz a betelepitési kvótáról, Magyar Nemzet (Feb. 24, 2016), https://mno.hu/belfold/orban-nepszavazas-lesz-a-betelepitesi-kvotarol-1330246 (last visited Oct. 25, 2017) (author translation).Google Scholar

61 41,32 % of the Hungarian electorate participated in the referendum, less than the 50% threshold needed to validate the referendum.Google Scholar

62 Ministry of Justice, Non-Hungarians Cannot Be Relocated to Hungary's Territory, Hungarian Government (Oct. 11, 2016, 12:58PM), http://www.kormany.hu/en/ministry-of-justice/news/non-hungarians-cannot-be-relocated-to-hungary-s-territory (last visited Oct. 25, 2017).Google Scholar

63 The Seventh Amendment and the HCC's decision use the phrase “constitutional self-identity,” but this paper continues to apply the notion of constitutional identity.Google Scholar

64 Although the ombudsman's petition contained several points, the Court dealt only with the issue of interpreting the EU clause and left the EU refugee relocation issue to another decision. See Identity decision, supra note 52, para. 29.Google Scholar

65 See id. para. 67.Google Scholar

66 See id. para. 64.Google Scholar

67 János M. Bak & Anna Gara-Bak, The Ideology of a “Millennial Constitution” of Hungary, 15 E. Eur. Q. 307 (1981).Google Scholar

68 Gábor Attila Tóth, Hungary, in Constitutional Law in the EU Members 791 (Besselink et. al. eds., 2014).Google Scholar

69 Identity decision, supra note 52, para. 65.Google Scholar

70 See id. para. 66.Google Scholar

71 See Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], 30 June 2009, [2 BvE 2/08].Google Scholar

72 Id. para. 4.Google Scholar

73 See Identity decision, supra note 52, para. 55.Google Scholar

74 See id. para. 54.Google Scholar

75 See Slovak pension decision, supra note 50; Identity decision, supra note 52, para. 65.Google Scholar

76 See Lisbon decision of the CT, supra note 38, § 2.1.Google Scholar

77 Constitutional Tribunal [CT], 21 September 2015, K 28/13.Google Scholar

78 See Anna Śledzińska-Simon & Michałt Ziółtkowski, Constitutional Identity of Poland: Is the Emperor Putting On the Old Clothes of Sovereignty? 4 (Jul. 11, 2017) (unpublished manuscript) (on file with author).Google Scholar

79 See Constitutional Court 10 September 2009, Pl OS 27/09, N 199/54 SbNU 445 (Meledk) (Cz.).Google Scholar

80 See Lisbon decision of the CT, supra note 38, § 2.1.Google Scholar

81 See Ladislav Vyhnánek, The Eternity Clause in the Czech Constitution as Limit to European Integration, 9 ICL J. 243 (2015).Google Scholar

82 See Slovak pension decision, supra note 50; Identity decision, supra note 52, para. 65.Google Scholar

83 See Jan Komárek, Playing with Matches: The Czech Constitutional Court's Ultra Vires Revolution, VerfBlog (Feb. 22, 2012), http://verfassungsblog.de/playing-matches-czech-constitutional-courts-ultra-vires-revolution/ (last visited Oct. 25, 2017).Google Scholar

84 Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], Nov. 22, 1986, BVerfGE 73, 339, 2 BvR 197/83.Google Scholar

85 Besselink, supra note 3, at 47.Google Scholar

86 See Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], June 30, 2009, 2 BvE 2/08.Google Scholar

87 Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], Dec. 15, 2015, [2 BvR 2735/14], para. 41.Google Scholar

88 This may remind us of the view of Carl Schmitt in the early years on the possibilities of changing the identity of the constitution.Google Scholar

89 See, e.g., Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], June 21, 2016, BVerfGE 142, 121, 2 BvR 2728/13.Google Scholar

90 See Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], Dec. 15, 2015, 2 BvR 2735/14, para. 46.Google Scholar

91 See Daniel Halberstam & Christoph Möllers, The German Constitutional Court Says Ja Zu Deutschland, 10 German L.J. 1241, 1258 (2009).Google Scholar

92 ECJ, C-62/14, Gauweiler et al. v. Deutscher Bundestag, ECLI:EU:C:2015:400, Judgment of 16 June 2015, paras. 5–31.Google Scholar

93 See Orgad, Liav, The Cultural Defense of Nations, A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights (2015).Google Scholar