The Justices of the Constitutional Court on an official visit to France

01.03.2018.

From 28 February to 2 March, the Justices of the Constitutional Court, headed by the President of the Court Ineta Ziemele, will be on official visit to Paris, France. During the visit, the Constitutional Court will meet with the members of the Council of State of France, the Judges of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of France and of the Cassation Court. The visit takes place in the framework of cooperation between the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and the Council of State of France, which was initiated in 2016 when the 12^th  ESIL (European Society of International Law)  Conference was held in Riga. As part of the visit, the delegation of the Constitutional Court also plans to visit the Embassy of Latvia in France and meet with Latvia’s Ambassador to France Imants Lieģis.

The visit will start by the delegation of the Constitutional Court visiting the Cassation Court. The delegation of the Constitutional Court will be welcomed by Bruno Pireyre, the President of the Chamber of the Cassation Court, Head of the Documentation and International Relations Service, as well as Judges of the Cassation Court. During the visit, the delegation of the Constitutional Court will have the opportunity to receive information about the jurisdiction of the Cassation Court and its role in the French legal system.

At the Constitutional Council of France, the delegation of the Constitutional Court will be welcomed by Laurent Fabius, the President of the Constitutional Council, and Judges of the Constitutional Council. During the meeting, Justices and Judges of both states will give presentations, which will be followed by more extensive discussions. The Vice-president of the Constitutional Court Sanita Osipova will speak about the constitutional identity of the Republic of Latvia and reflection of it in judgements by the Constitutional Court, whereas the Justice of the Constitutional Court Gunārs Kusiņš will focus upon examination of the annual draft budget law (package of draft budget laws) by the Constitutional Court.

The visit will be concluded by working sessions of the delegation at the Council of State of France, with the participation Jean Marc Sauvé, the Vice-President of the Council of State of France, and several members of the Council of State of France.  The issues of the constitutional review of the state budget will be discussed in one of the sessions. In the framework of this session, presentations will be given by the Justice of the Constitutional Court Jānis Neimanis and Bernard Pêcheur, the Head of the Administrative Department of the Council of State, providing an insight into the practice of each state in examining these issues. During the second working session, issues related to protection of fundamental human rights in the digital age will be discussed. In this session, presentations will be given by the Justice of the Constitutional Court and Laurent Cytermann, a member of the Council of State of France.

A coverage of the visit of the Constitutional Court delegation to the Council of State of France is available on the Conseil d’État website (in French).
A coverage of the visit of the Constitutional Court delegation to the Latvian Embassy in France is available on the website of the French Embassy in Latvia (in French).

Photo from the visit of the Constitutional Court to the Cassation Court is available here.
Photo from the visit to the Embassy of Latvia in France is available here.