Justices of the Constitutional Court of Latvia and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany talk remotely about recent developments and concerns in the courts’ work

10.12.2020.

On Tuesday, 8 December, continuing the tradition of mutual dialogue, Justices of the Constitutional Court of Latvia met remotely with their colleagues from the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (German Constitutional Court). In two sessions, the Justices talked about the work done by the courts in the year past, discussed the content of the principle of human dignity as defined in recent judgments of the two courts, and shared their experience of having a dialogue with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

President of the German Constitutional Court Stephan Harbarth highlighted the constructive dialogue and friendship between the two courts, attested to by this first ever webinar held with a foreign court. Stephan Harbarth pointed out that this dialogue between courts was aimed at building constructive discussions and exchanging opinions on current issues in constitutional law and challenging legal issues.

President of the Latvian Constitutional Court Sanita Osipova, too, accentuated the long-standing and productive cooperation between the two constitutional courts and welcomed the opportunity to maintain the dialogue during the complicated times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sanita Osipova provided the Justices of the German Constitutional Court with an insight into the main findings laid down in the 2020 judgments of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, one of the central topics being human dignity. She informed the German colleagues about the work of the Court in the conditions of the emergency situation, and emphasised the need for a constitutional court to build an active dialogue with the public and with the other constitutional bodies in the state. During this time, it is also important to maintain dialogue with the national- and international-level courts to facilitate exchange of ideas and the protection of the principles of a democratic rule-of-law state.

In the context of the courts forming a dialogue with the CJEU, the Latvian Constitutional Court Justice Daiga Rezevska spoke about several cases in which the Court had decided to refer questions to the CJEU for preliminary ruling. The German Constitutional Court Justice Peter M. Huber mentioned examples of a dialogue between the German Constitutional Court and the CJEU. The parties were equally of the opinion that a constructive dialogue between courts in the legal space of the European Union was necessary, as it makes possible to share experience and to learn what challenges are faced by courts at the national and the European level.

Vice President of the Constitutional Court Aldis Laviņš and the German Constitutional Court Justice Henning Radtke informed the participants of the webinar about the concept of human dignity in the case law of the two courts.

Participating in the webinar were all the Justices of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, as well as, on the part of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany: President Stephan Harbarth, Vice President Doris Köning, Justices Andreas L. Paulus, Peter M. Huber, Henning Radtke and Astrid Wallrabenstein.