The Eternity Clause in the Czech Constitution as Limit to European Integration
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Ladislav Vyhnánek
Assistant Professor at the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science at Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic) and Law Clerk at the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic
Abstract
The article raises one principle question: Does the Czech Eternity Clause pose a possible threat to a further integration of the European Union? In a concise introductory part, the article analyses the concept of the Eternity Clause of the Czech Constitution from both the substantive and procedural point of view. Afterwards, the article goes on to evaluate whether certain aspects of the Eternity Clause (as interpreted by the Czech Constitutional Court) might indeed create practical problems for the EU. The opinion of the author is that the ‘danger’ is quite negligible. This is mostly due to the fact that the Czech Constitutional Court generally (with an exception that is not to be overestimated) adheres to euro-friendly interpretation and it has even interpreted the Eternity Clause itself (especially concepts like democracy or sovereignty) with respect to the logic and nature of European integration. The euro-friendliness of the Czech Constitutional Court is further complemented by the respect that the EU law pays to national (especially constitutional) identity of the member states.
About the author
Assistant Professor at the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science at Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic) and Law Clerk at the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic
© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Inhalt
- Table of Contents
- Articles
- Erosion of Constitutional Rights in EU Law: A Call for ‘Substantive Co-operative Constitutionalism’
- Religious Symbols and Garments in Public Places – a Theory for the Understanding of S.A.S. v France
- Supremely Fallible? A Debate on Judicial Restraint and Activism in Pakistan
- Notes & Essays
- The Eternity Clause in the Czech Constitution as Limit to European Integration
- Drafting the Preamble for the Satversme: A New Approach to one of the Oldest Still-Functioning Republican Basic Laws
- Developments Austria
- Focus: The best Interests of the Child
- In the Child’s best Interest. A strict Age Difference between an adoptive Parent and the Child violates the Child’s Right to the best possible Development and Deployment
- Exclusion of registered Partners from Adoption Rights found to be discriminatory
