The Justices of the Constitutional Court discuss constitutional identity and the principles of the rule of law in the common Europan rule-of-law space in Austria
From 1 to 3 July, the Justices of the Constitutional Court paid an official visit to the Constitutional Court of Austria. During the visit, the Justices shared experience and discussed issues of constitutional identity and the role of constitutional courts in the European legal space.
Latvian delegation with the Judges of the Constitutional Court of Austria. Photo: Austrian Constitutional Court.
During the first working session, the Justices discussed the constitutional identity of both states. In this session, a presentation from the perspective of the Latvian Constitutional Court was given by Vice-president of the Court Sanita Osipova. She explained how the Latvian constitutional identity is revealed and interpreted in the judgements of the Constitutional Court.
At the beginning of her presentation, she focused on the genesis of the concept “constitutional identity of a state”. Speaking about Latvia’s experience, Sanita Osipova admitted that this concept, which denoted the foundations of the national law, entered the Latvian legal doctrine with the Opinion of 17 September 2012 of the Constitutional Law Committee under the Auspices of the President “On the Constitutional Foundations of the State of Latvia and Inviolable Core of the Satversme” [in Latvian].
Sanita Osipova noted in her presentation that the identity of a state was characterised by the values included in its Constitution. She underscored that these values existed in the consciousness of the people and united the people, but for their protection and also for the sake of legal certainty they were included in the Constitution. Sanita Osipova recognised the national symbols – the flag, anthem, coat of arms – as being collective values that shaped the society, affiliated with the state and expressed the will to State, therefore they also belonged to the constitutional identity of a state.
Since the primary task of the Constitutional Court is to protect the constitutional identity of the state, in the continuation of her presentation, Sanita Osipova provided and insight into some cases heard by the Constitutional Court, which characterised the way, in which the Latvian Constitutional Court, through its judgements, protects the Latvian constitutional identity. She spoke about judgements in cases regarding the official language (No. 2001-04-0103; No. 2003-02-0106).
During the second working session, the Justices discussed the role of constitutional courts in protecting the rule of law and democracy in the European legal space. The view on this matter from Latvia’s perspective was provided by the President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele.
Ineta Ziemele explained that the task of the Constitutional Court was to ensure the existence of an aligned and comprehensive legal system in Latvia. She underscored that a state that had a stable mechanism of checks-and-balances of the branches of state power was resilient against internal and external challenges, therefore the role of the Constitutional Court was very important.
Through its judgements, the Constitutional Court ensures the rule of law. Ineta Ziemele admitted that the judgements by the Constitutional Court and the findings expressed in them reinforced public trust in the institutions of public administration and the State in general since they provided explanations on the ways a democratic state governed by the rule of law functioned.
In her presentation, Ineta Ziemele stated that the broader function of the Constitutional Court together with the substance of its judgements were the grounds to recognise that the judgements of the Constitutional Court were a source of law since, in its judgements, the Constitutional Court examined and responded to a particular issue of law and also revealed the content and values of the general principles of law.
Ineta Ziemele concluded her presentation by providing an insight into three cases examined by the Constitutional Court, which reinforced the rule of law in Latvia. She focused on judgements in the cases regarding: compulsory land lease (No. 2017-17-01), publication of the remuneration of state officials and (No. 2018-11-01), and the Regulation of the Bank on Latvia pertaining to buying and selling foreign currency cash (No. 2015-11-03).
The Vice-president of the Austrian Constitutional Court Christoph Grabenwarter provided insight from the perspective of the Austrian Court’s case law on a number of aspects in the principle of the rule of law – the principles of legal certainty and the clarity of a legal norm. Both Courts agreed that a respectful dialogue between the European courts and the constitutional courts was particularly significant for the development of the European legal space.