President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele will give a lecture on the future of Europe and the role of Constitutional Courts at the Humboldt University of Berlin

01.02.2018.

Today, on 1 February, Ineta Ziemele, the President of the Constitutional Court, Professor at the Riga Graduate School of Law will give a lecture as part of the series of prestigious lectures held at the Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) in Germany. She will share her view on the future of Europe by giving a lecture on the role of Constitutional Courts in the globalised contemporary world (“Constitutional Courts as Lock-Gates in the World of International-National Tension”).

Ineta Ziemele underscores: “I would like to use this unique opportunity and speak about the role of courts in shaping Europe of the 21^st century. My lecture will focus on the paradox of sovereignty in the globalised world. I will try to offer a conceptual view on the notion of sovereignty that would be able to function in integrated Europe. I’ll draw attention to the established case law of the Constitutional Court and the findings expressed in it on the issues of sovereignty and will attempt to find a common denominator that would allow the international and constitutional courts to decrease the tension in their relationships that occurs time and again.”

Traditionally, leaders of the European states who are also publicly recognised authorities of European level are invited to give lectures at the Humboldt University of Berlin. These lectures provide an opportunity to society to get to know the author’s opinion and reflections on the current situation in the European Union (hereinafter – EU). Democracy, European integrity and identity, the EU constitutional law, challenges for the EU and long-term global scale development are among the topics discussed at the lectures.

Previously, lectures at the Humboldt University of Berlin have been given by such European leaders as the former Chancellor of Germany Helmut Schmidt, the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, the President of France Emmanuel Macron, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, the former President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, the Chairman of the European Council Herman van Rompuy, the Chairman of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, and the President of the German Federal Constitutional Court Andreas Voßkuhle. The previous speaker from Latvia at this forum was Valdis Dombrovskis, the Vice-president of the European Commission for the Euro and the Social Dialogue.

Ineta Ziemele’s lecture and the following discussion (in English) at the Humboldt University of Berlin will be streamed live on 1 February at 18.00 (at 19.00 Latvia’s time).

The streaming will be available on the homepage of the Humboldt University at Berlin and the University’s youtube channel.

Ineta Ziemele’s lecture, alongside other lectures by the leaders of the European states will be published on the homepage of the Walter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law and the homepage of the Humboldt University of Berlin, as well as in the law journal Human Rights Law Journal.

The Humboldt University of Berlin has asked Ineta Ziemele, in the framework of this visit, to address also the students of this University, therefore, before the event, she will give a lecture and conduct a seminar on the role of Constitutional Courts and the European Court of Human Rights in the protection of human rights in Europe.

About the origins and organisers of Humboldt Lectures:

The German Minister for Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer, upon an invitation by the Walter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law, on 12 May 2000, gave a lecture at the Humboldt University of Berlin on the future of the EU. He proposed concluding a constitutional treaty between the EU states, which would establish the European Federation, based on the principle of subsidiarity. This lecture gained popularity throughout Europe and beyond it, and it then became known as “the Humboldt Lecture”.

This event led to the initiative to hold a series of lectures by the leaders from the European states at the Humboldt University of Berlin, discussing important issues linked to the future of European integration. The formal beginning of this tradition is 8 November 2000, when the former Chancellor of Germany Helmut Schmidt gave a lecture at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Since 2008, lectures at the Humboldt University of Berlin are organised by the Walter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law in cooperation with the Representation of the European Commission in Germany. Since 2014, organisation of lectures is supported also by the foundation “Stiftung Mercator”, which is implementing the project “We are Europe” (“Wir sind Europa”). The aim of this project is to strengthen Europe, to improve integration through equal education opportunities for all, promoting energy transition as an initiative for curbing global climate change and to strengthen culture education in schools.

Photos are available here.