EUnited in diversity. Between common constitutional traditions and national identities

Summary:

Proceedings of a conference held in Riga (Latvia) on 2-3 September 2021.

Further information:

The Court of Justice of the European Union (the ‘CJEU’) encapsulated the essence of European integration in the following terms: ‘The values contained in Article 2 TEU have been identified and are shared by the Member States. They define the very identity of the European Union as a common legal order’. At the same time, Article 4(2) TEU provides that the European Union ‘shall respect the equality of Member States before the Treaties as well as their national identities, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional’.

No conflict can arise between the values forming the identity of the European Union and those that are shared and cherished by the Member States, since the constitutional traditions common to the latter, which are protected by Articles 4(2) and 6(3) TEU, are integral to EU law. What role are those common values to play in the EU legal order and in those of the Member States? To answer that question, it must be understood that the European Union has created a common constitutional architecture that seeks to guarantee a harmonious relationship between those legal orders, whilst satisfying the highest standards of legitimacy. The only way to make that architecture work successfully, so as to bring the greatest benefit to the citizens of the European Union, is through genuine participation by civil society and by national and European institutions, including the CJEU and national constitutional courts.

It is with that goal in mind that the CJEU and those constitutional courts have decided to launch a regular dialogue between them to discuss that common constitutional architecture. The first event in what is intended to become a traditional gathering took place in Riga, Latvia, on 2-3 September 2021 under the auspices of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia.

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