The delegation of the Italian Parliament pays an official visit to the Constitutional Court

19.12.2018.

On Tuesday, 18 December, the Constitutional Court was visited by the delegation of the Parliament of the Republic of Italy (hereinafter – Italy), within the framework of its official visit to Latvia; the delegation was headed by the Senator Isabella Rauti and the Ambassador of Italy to Latvia Sebastiano Fulci. At the Constitutional Court, the delegation was welcomed by the President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele, the Vice-president of the Constitutional Court Sanita Osipova, as well as by the Justices of the Constitutional Court Aldis Laviņš, Gunārs Kusiņš and Artūrs Kučs.

Ineta Ziemele told the delegation about the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and explained the model of constitutional review in Latvia. She spoke about the functions of the Constitutional Court in the broadest meaning thereof and also mentioned a number of communication activities that the Court implemented to inform and educate society with the aim of consolidating the fundamental values of a democratic state governed by the rule of law.

Responding to the interests shown by the delegation, the Justices of the Constitutional Court turned to the issues of minority rights and mentioned a number of cases heard by the Constitutional Court, in which these matters were examined. The Justices outlined the directions of international cooperation and also drew attention to the Court’s practice of developing a constant national-level dialogue with the other branches of power, thus fostering the function of checks-and-balances that these branches fulfil.

During the meeting, the parties discussed relevant issues in the European legal space and also turned to the issues linked to the constitutional identity of the states.

At the conclusion of the visit, Ineta Ziemele thanked the delegation for their interest and for visiting the Constitutional Court and presented to the head of the delegation the  English language edition of the collection of the most important judgements by the Constitutional Court.

The members of the delegation of the Italian Parliament were the Senator Isabella Rauti, the Deputies – Roberto Bagnasco, Salvatore Caiata, Federico Mollicone, Giampietro Maffoni, Antonio Tasso, as well the assistants accompanying the delegation Giangiacomo Calovini and Marco Lepre. The delegation was also accompanied by the representatives from the Italian Embassy in Latvia Ieva Baltuže and Inese Kleinute-Smaile.