Delegation of the Court of Justice of the European Union visits the Constitutional Court of Latvia
Yesterday, on 9 February, the judges and staff of the Constitutional Court of Latvia met with Ineta Ziemele, the Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Inga Reine, the Judge of the General Court, Alfredo Calot Escobar, the Secretary of the Court, and the heads of various departments of the Court.
The delegation of the European Court of Justice was addressed by Aldis Laviņš, the President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, who emphasised that the dialogue between the two Courts had taken another broad step forward, as cooperation was now being developed at the level of judges and administration at the same time. This is extremely important this year, when both the Constitutional Court of Latvia and the Court of Justice of the European Union have made it a priority to bring the rule of law closer to everyone.
During the meeting, the judges discussed issues relating to the competence of constitutional courts in relation to judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the incompatibility of a national legal norm with EU law, as well as current case law of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the General Court. The judges debated various legal aspects of the essential role of the national language as an element of a country’s constitutional identity, as well as whether national rules that are not in line with EU law can remain in force for a while.
Representatives of the Office of the President of the Constitutional Court, the Legal Department and the Public Relations and Protocol Unit met with Alfredo Calot Escobar, the Secretary of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and Thierry Lefevre, the Head of the Directorate-General for Multilingualism, Raluca Lavinia Peica, the Head of the Directorate-General for Information, Celestina Jannone, the Head of the Directorate for Research and Documentation, Juan Carlos González Alvarez, the Head of the Press and Information Unit of the Directorate for Communication, and Ketija Strazda, the Administrator of the Directorate for Communication. The staff of both courts shared their experience on how to increase procedural efficiency, how to work with case law search tools, how to strengthen the flow of information between the press services of both courts, how the courts inform the public about recent rulings, innovations in communication and the involvement of different departments in the adjudication of cases.
The judges and staff of the Constitutional Court, as well as the representatives of the delegation of the Court of Justice of the European Union, agreed that the development of dialogue between the two courts, both at the level of judges and staff, would strengthen the rule of law and make the courts even more open to the citizens of our common home – Europe. The judges of the Constitutional Court and the Administration will continue the discussions initiated next week by visiting the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg and participating in several working sessions within the framework of the bilateral meeting.