Czech Republic 2009–2012: On Unconstitutional Amendment of the Constitution, Limits of EU Law and Direct Presidential Elections

Abstract:

In the years 2008 and 2009, the Czech Constitutional Court (CCC) attracted the attention of the international academic and political community, when it ruled twice on the compatibility of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech constitutional order.1 In both cases, the CCC has constructed its review around a 'super-rigid', non-amendable, constitutional Article 9 paragraph 2, which bans changes of essential requirements for a democratic state governed by the rule of law. This super-rigid constitutional provision forms a material core of the Czech constitutional order and establishes, in the CCC's opinion, ultimate limits of transfer of competencies even to the European Union. In both its 'Lisbon' rulings, the CCC declared that the Lisbon Treaty has not unconstitutionally intervened into the 'material core' of the constitutional order and Czech participation in the post-Lisbon EU was constitutionally compatible.2 The process of elaboration of the concept of the constitutional material core by the CCC has not stopped there and the CCC used the years 2009-2012 to further develop its case law both regarding activities of the Czech Parliament and the European Union.