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³ For Sweden, the reference is not to the constitutional case law, but to the Constitution itself. Indeed, the constitutional provision referred to (Article 6 of Chapter 10 of the Swedish Instrument of Government) is new and has not yet given rise to constitutional case law, which is not surprising given the Swedish tradition of not having these issues decided by the courts.Google Scholar

⁴ With a touch of malignance the AG here makes reference to Andreas Vosskuhle, Der Europäische Verfassungsgerichtsverbund 22 (TranState Working Papers No.16, Staatlichkeit im Wandel – Transformations of the State, Bremen, 2009) (citing Peter Häberle & Markus Kotzur, Europäische Verfassungslehre 478 (6th ed. 2009)).Google Scholar

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⁶ The distinction goes back to the French revolution and has its roots in the Middle-Ages. See Loughlin, Martin, The Concept of Constituent Power, 13 Eur. J. Pol. Theory 218, 221 (2014). In 1789, Emmanuel Josef Siéyès presented the distinction between “pouvoir constituant” and “pouvoirs constitués” in his famous Qu'est ce que le tiers etat?; in his thinking, the distinction encompassed that between “pouvoir constituant originaire” and “pouvoir constituant institué,” see Alain Laquièze, La reception de Sieyès par la doctrine publicitiste française du XIXème et du XXème siècles, 6 Historia Constitucional (revista electronica) 229, 256 (2005). The distinction is an offshoot of social contract theories; Jürgen Habermas, Zur Prinzipienkonkurrenz von Bürgergleichheit und Staatengleichheit im supranationalen Gemeinwesen. Eine Notiz aus Anlass der Frage nach der Legitimität der ungleichen Repräsentation der Bürger im Europäischen Parlament, 53 Der Staat 167, 180–81(2014).Google Scholar

⁷ On the reception of the distinction in German scholarship and case-law, see for instance Ingolf Pernice, Carl Schmitt, Rudolf Smend und die europäische Integration, 120 Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts (AöR) 100 (1995); Karlheinz Rode, Verfassungsidentität und Ewigkeitsgarantie. Anmerkungen zu einem Mythos der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehre (2012).Google Scholar

⁸ “(V)on dem Willen beseelt, als gleichberechtigtes Glied in einem vereinten Europa dem Frieden der Welt zu dienen, hat sich das deutsche Volk kraft seiner verfassungsgebenden Gewalt dieses Grundgesetz gegeben.” See also Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], June 20, 2009, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08, para. 216, http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2009/06/es20090630_2bve000208en.html.Google Scholar

⁹ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at paras. 217–18.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Perhaps even the pouvoir constituant originaire is bound by the principles of human dignity, freedom and equality, due to their “universal nature.” BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 217.Google Scholar

¹¹ Id. Google Scholar

¹² Id. at para. 235.Google Scholar

¹³ Id. at para. 216. The interpretation that Germany's current constitutional settlement prohibits Germany to abandon its sovereign statehood is disputed, inter alia on the basis of the statement in the German constitution's preamble that the German people wants to promote world peace as an “equal partner in a united Europe,” see Pernice, supra note 7, at 116.Google Scholar

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¹⁶ Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], Feb. 7, 1992, 89 Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts [BVerfGE] 155, 171–72, 181 [hereinafter Maastricht Decision].Google Scholar

¹⁷ Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], Sept. 7, 2011, Case No. 2 BvR 987/10, http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2011/09/rs20110907_2bvr098710en. html; Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], Sept. 12, 2012, Case No. 2 BvR 1390/12, http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2012/09/rs20120912_2bvr139012en. html. On the development of the concept in the BVerfG's case-law, see Tomuschat, Christian, The Defence of National Identity by the German Constitutional Court, in National Constitutional Identity and European Integration 205 (Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz & Carina Alcoberro Llivina eds., 2013); Franz Mayer, L'identité constitutionelle dans la jurisprudence constitutionnelle allemande, in L' identité constitutionnelle saisie par les juges en Europe 62 (Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen ed., 2011).Google Scholar

¹⁸ See also Bofill, Hèctor López, What is not Constitutional Pluralism in the EU: National Constitutional Identity in the German Lisbon Judgment, in National Constitutional Identity and European Integration 221, 230–37 (Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz & Carina Alcoberro Llivina eds., 2013); Stefan Theil, What Red Lines, If Any, Do the Lisbon Judgments of European Constitutional Courts Draw for Future EU Integration?, 15 German L.J. 600 (2014).Google Scholar

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²⁰ Bofill, López, supra note 18, at 221.Google Scholar

²¹ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 216.Google Scholar

²² Id. at para. 298.Google Scholar

²³ Id. at paras. 240, 344–45.Google Scholar

²⁴ Id. at paras. 298, 346–50.Google Scholar

²⁵ Id. at paras. 329–30.Google Scholar

²⁶ Id. at paras. 231, 298.Google Scholar

²⁷ Id. at paras. 233–34, 300–03.Google Scholar

²⁸ Id. at paras. 233, 322–28.Google Scholar

²⁹ Id. at paras. 331–40.Google Scholar

³⁰ Id. at paras. 240–41, 33–40.Google Scholar

³¹ Id. at paras. 331 337.Google Scholar

³² Solange II at 339; Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], June 7, 2000, Case No. 2 BvL 1/97, http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2000/06/ls20000607_2bvl000197en.html [hereinafter Bananas].Google Scholar

³³ See Thym, Daniel, Europäische Integration im Schatten Souveräner Staatlichkeit. Anmerkungen zum Lissabon-Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, 48 Der Staat 559, 569 (2009) (including note 48); see also Hans-Georg Dederer, Die Grenzen des Vorrangs des Unionsrecht – Zur Vereinheitlichung von Grundrechts-, Ultra-vires- und Identitätskontrolle, 69 JuristenZeitung (JZ) 313, 317 (2014), (opining that the BVerfG should abandon Solange II and should return to “zur einzelfallbezogenen Grundrechtskontrolle” because fundamental rights review is only a specific expression of identity review, which itself is “einzelfallbezogen”).Google Scholar

³⁴ Maastricht Decision at 172, 186; BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at paras. 175, 249, 252.Google Scholar

³⁵ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 252.Google Scholar

³⁶ Id. at para. 248.Google Scholar

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⁴⁰ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 246. The statement concerning the German government only adds to the confusion. It makes one wonder whether all legislative competences may be transferred as long the EU Council of Ministers decides unanimously.Google Scholar

⁴¹ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 264 (emphasis added); see also id. at para. 175.Google Scholar

⁴² Thym, , supra note 33, at 569. See also Maastricht Decision at 181.Google Scholar

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⁴⁴ Ústavni Soud České republiky (Czech constitutional court), judgment of 3 November 2009 - Pl. ÚS 29/09: Treaty of Lisbon II, para. 110-111; see also Jo Eric Khushal Murkens, Identity trumps Integration. The Lisbon Treaty in the German Federal Constitutional Court, 48 Der Staat 517, 521 (2009); supra Theil, supra note 18, at 60-10.Google Scholar

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⁴⁶ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 255; for the exception to this rule, see id. at para. 383.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Id. at para. 364.Google Scholar

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⁵⁰ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 1390/12 at paras. 104–08 (208–13 in the English translation); this decision of 12 September 2012 concerns the applications for the issue of a temporary injunction. For the final decision of 18 March 2014, see ECLI:DE:BVerfG:2014:rs20140318.2bvr139012, para. 164.Google Scholar

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⁵⁴ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 1390/12 at paras. 110–14 (224–28 in the English translation); see also ECLI:DE:BVerfG:2014:rs20140318.2bvr139012, paras. 168–72; BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 1099/10 at para. 104.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 1390/12 at para. 110 (214 in the English translation); see also BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 256.Google Scholar

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⁵⁷ Id. at paras. 116–17, 128-130 (220–21, 232-234 in the English translation); ECLI:DE:BVerfG:2014:rs20140318.2bvr139012, paras. 177–81.Google Scholar

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⁶⁰ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 339 (“[W]enn innerhalb oder außerhalb der übertragenen Hoheitsrechte diese mit Wirkung für Deutschland so ausgeübt werden, dass eine Verletzung der durch Art. 79 Abs. 3 GG unverfügbaren und auch durch das europäische Vertragsrecht, namentlich Art. 4 Abs. 2 Satz 1 EUV-Lisbon, geachteten Verfassungsidentität die Folge ist.”).Google Scholar

⁶¹ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at para. 25 (“Das ist nicht nur dann der Fall, wenn sich eigenmächtige Kompetenzerweiterungen auf Sachbereiche erstrecken, die zur Verfassungsidentität der Mitgliedstaaten rechnen oder besonders vom demokratisch diskursiven Prozess in den Mitgliedstaaten abhängen (…); allerdings wiegen hier Kompetenzüberschreitungen besonders schwer.”).Google Scholar

⁶² Honeywell at para. 60.Google Scholar

⁶³ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at para. 103.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Maastricht Decision at 188; BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at paras. 27, 45. However, it is perhaps not excluded that German institutions apply of their own free will EU law which is declared ultra vires and which is not contrary to the Grundgesetz. Mayer, supra note 58, at 481.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ 2 BvR 2728/13 of 14 January 2014 (Gauweiler), para. 49.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 179.Google Scholar

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⁶⁸ However a referendum might be politically unavoidable. Martin Nettesheim, Wo “endet” das Grundgesetz? – Verfassungsgebung als grenzüberschreitender Prozess, 51 Der Staat 313, 316 (2012); Volker M. Haug, Uber Partizipation zu einer postgrundgesetzlichen Verfassung. Zum Potential des Art. 146 GG im Licht der europäischen Integration, 138 AöR 435, 459–61 (2013).Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Grimm, , supra note 38, at 490; Peter M. Huber, The Federal Constitutional Court and European Integration, 21 Eur. Pub. L. 83, 91 (2015). See also Haug, supra note 68, at 453 (opining that in such referendum the German “people” would not act as “pouvoir constituant”, but as “pouvoir constitué” and would therefore be bound by Art. 79(3) GG).Google Scholar

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⁷¹ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at para. 29.Google Scholar

⁷² Id. Google Scholar

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⁷⁴ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvE 2/08 at para. 240.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ “The Union shall respect the national identities of its Member States, whose systems of government are founded on the principles of democracy.”Google Scholar

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⁸⁶ See also Sterck, Julien, Expressing sovereignty in the European Union: An Irish Perspective on Constitutional Identity 20–21 (UCD Working Papers in Law, Criminology & Socio-Legal Studies, Research Paper No. 3/2014).Google Scholar

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⁸⁹ Case C-156/13, Digibet Ltd. and Gert Albers v. Westdeutsche Lotterie GmbG & Co. (June 12, 2014), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=153584&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=ls t&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=76572.Google Scholar

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⁹² See, e.g., Opinion of Advocate General Maduro, Case C-160/03, Spain v. Eurojust (Dec. 16, 2004), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=49769&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=76852 (relating to language requirements); Opinion of General Advocate Maduro, Case C-213/07, Michaniki AE v. Ethniko Symvoulio Radiotileorasis and Ypourgos Epokrateias (Oct. 8, 2008), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=68940&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=76906 (relating to a peculiarity in the Greek Constitution establishing an incompatibility between the public works sector and that of the media); Opinion of Advocate General Colomer, Case C-205/08, Unweltanwalt von Kärntner v. Kärntner Landesregierung (June 25, 2009), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=77932&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=76967 (concerning the national identity and national constitutional autonomy of member states to decide which body has jurisdiction under the constitution to dispense justice); Opinion of Advocate General Kokott, Case C-566/10, Italy v. Comm'n (June 21, 2012), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=124201&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=77085 (on the principle of multilingualism); Opinion of Advocate General Bot, Case C-399/11, Melloni v. Ministerio Fiscal (Oct. 2, 2012), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=127841&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=77144 (on whether a particular manner of protecting fundamental rights could pertain to the national identity of a member state).Google Scholar

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⁹⁷ See, e.g., Las, Case C-202/11 (where the Court seems to be more careful than the Advocate General) (see Elke Cloots, Respecting linguistic identity within the EU's internal market: Las, 51 Common Mkt. L. Rev. 623 (2014)); see also Sayn-Wittgenstein, Case C-208/09; Torresi, Joined Cases C-58/13 & C-59/13 (where the ECJ rejected a claim based on national identity on factual grounds); Opinion of Advocate General Bot, supra note 92, at para 141, (stating “the Kingdom of Spain itself stated, at the hearing, relying inter alia on the exceptions in Spanish law to the holding of a retrial following a judgment rendered in absentia, that the participation of the defendant at his trial is not covered by the concept of the national identity of the Kingdom of Spain”). The ECJ did not mention the issue of national identity in that latter case. In O'Brien the Court rejected a claim based on the national identity of the UK put forward by the intervening Latvian Government, without much explanation. O'Brien, Case C-393/10.Google Scholar

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¹⁰⁰ Id. Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ Sayn-Wittgenstein, Case C-208/09. The list of ECJ judgments which the BVerfG links to Article 4(2) is conspicuously short. Scholarship has connected many more judgments to the provision. Claes, supra note 76, at 130–33; Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen, A Huron at the Kirchberg Plateau or a Few Naive Thoughts on Constitutional Identity in the Case-law of the Judge of the European Union, in National Identity and European Integration 275 (Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz & Carina Alcoberro Llivina eds., 2013).Google Scholar

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¹⁰³ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at para. 30.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ Toggenburg, G., Die ‘falsche’ Fürstin: Zum grenzüberschreidenden Verkehr von Adelstiteln vor dem Hintergrund der Unionsbürgerschaft, Eur. L. Reporter 74, 79 (2011); C. Kohler & W. Pintens, Entwicklungen im europäischen Personen- und Familienrecht 2010–2011, 18 Zeitschrift für das gesamte Familienrecht mit Betreuungsrecht, Erbrecht, Verfahrensrecht, Öffentlichem Recht 1433, 1439 (2011/3); F. Swennen, Zaken C-208/09, Sayn-Wittgenstein en C-391/09, Runevic-Vardin en Wardin, Sociaal Economische Wetgeving 76, 80 (2012/2).Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ Cf. Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG][Federal Constitutional Court], 87 Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts [BVerfGE] 209, 229–30.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ This part partially draws on Leonard Besselink, Monica Claes, Šejla Imamović & Jan-Herman Reestman, National Constitutional Avenues for Further European Integration, European Parliament's Committees on Legal Affairs and on Constitutional Affairs (Feb. 2014), available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/493046/IPOL-JURI_ET(2014)493046_EN.pdf.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at para 30.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ See, e.g., Julio Baquero Cruz, The Legacy of the Maastricht-Urteil and the Pluralist Movement, 14 Eur. L.J. 389 (2008); Wojciech Sadurski, “Solange, chapter 3”: Constitutional Courts in Central Europe – Democracy – European Union (EUI, Working Paper LAW No. 2006/40); Allan F. Tatham, Central European Constitutional Courts in the Face of EU Membership. The Influence of the German Model in Hungary and Poland (2013); General Report for the XVIth Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts 2014 on Co-operation of Constitutional Courts in Europe – Current Situation and Perspectives, available at http://www.confeuconstco.org/en/common/home.html (“Many national reports mention the German Federal Constitutional Court as the most frequently cited foreign constitutional court, regardless of regional or linguistic factors, especially in cases relating to fundamental rights”). See, for instance, from the Czech Report, drafted by the Czech Constitutional Court: “However, other European constitutional courts (German Constitutional Court in Solange I, Solange II, Maastricht, Bananenmarkt; Italian Constitutional Court in Frontini) also ruled that there are certain boundaries beyond which unreserved respect for ECJ's postulate on the primacy of any European law is not appropriate. The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic was inspired in particular by the case law of its German counterpart.”Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ For a detailed analysis, see generally Wendel, Mattias, Comparative reasoning and the making of a common constitutional law: EU-related decisions of national constitutional courts in a transnational perspective, 11 Int'l J. Const. L. 981 (2013).Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ On comparative reasoning, see Bobek, Michal, Comparative Reasoning in European Supreme Courts (2013).Google Scholar

¹¹¹ This is the rule rather than the exception for non-mandatory use of foreign law by courts. See Bobek, supra note 110, at 196–97. On the comparative method, see Practice and Theory in Comparative Law (Maurice Adams & Jacco Bomhoff eds., 2012).Google Scholar

¹¹² In the case of Denmark and Poland, the Treaties under review had already been ratified. This has to do with the particular procedural conditions for standing.Google Scholar

¹¹³ Poland (Accession Treaty).Google Scholar

¹¹⁴ Ireland (SEA in Crotty); Latvia (Lisbon); Poland (Lisbon) and Spain (Constitutional Treaty) and Denmark (Maastricht Treaty). The Danish and Polish cases are somewhat peculiar, since the relevant Treaties had entered into force when the courts rendered their decisions.Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ Estonia (ESM).Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ Conseil constitutionnel (Maastricht; Constitutional Treaty); Carlos Closa Montero & Pablo Castillo Ortiz, National Courts and Ratification of the EU Treaties: Assessing the Impact of Political Contexts in Judicial Decisions, in Multilayered Representation in the European Union. Parliaments, Courts and the Public Sphere 129 (T. Evas, C. Lord & E. Liebert eds., 2012). These decisions have proven less intrusive on the whole: Upon constitutional amendment, the Treaty could be ratified and is henceforth considered to be constitutional.Google Scholar

¹¹⁷ The reference of the Spanish Constitutional Tribunal is to Article 4(2) TEU's predecessor in Article I-5 of the Constitutional Treaty and is used to support the holding that the primacy principle in the Constitutional Treaty does not infringe the Constitution. The same is true for the Latvian Court, which read in Article 4(2) TEU a guarantee that the EU would not infringe the statehood and fundamental principles and values of the Latvian Constitution.Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ Article 20 of the Constitution provides that “Powers vested in the authorities of the Realm under this Constitutional Act may, to such extent as shall be provided by statute, be delegated to international authorities set up by mutual agreement with other states for the promotion of international rules of law and cooperation. (2) For the enactment of a Bill dealing with the above, a majority of five-sixths of the members of the Folketing is required. If this majority is not achieved, whereas the majority required for the passing of ordinary Bills is, and if the Government maintains the Bill, it shall be submitted to the electorate for approval or rejection in accordance with the rules on referenda laid down in Article 42.”Google Scholar

¹¹⁹ H&jesteret, Carlsen and Others v. Prime Minister, UfR [1998] 800, reported in English in [1999] 3 Common Market Law Reports 854.Google Scholar

¹²⁰ Mainly in constitutions adopted shortly after (re-)gaining independence. Examples include Article 5 of the Irish Constitution and Article 1 of Chapter 1 of the Latvian Constitution. Note that independence is not mentioned in the Danish Constitution, but must be presumed. The TEU also starts from the presumption that it is made up of independent States, as is clear from Articles 48, 49 and 50 TEU, Article 4(2) TEU (the EU respects the equality of member states as well as their national identities and their essential State functions), from the principle of conferral, Article 10, and so forth. Independence and statehood are not mentioned in so many words in the German Basic Law.Google Scholar

¹²¹ H&jesteret, decision of 20 February 2013, Hausgaard and Others v. Prime Minister, [2013] UfR 1451, available at http://www.hoejesteret.dk/hoejesteret/nyheder/ovrigenyheder/Documents/199-12engelsk.pdf.Google Scholar

¹²² Olsen, Henrik Palmer, The Danish Supreme Court's decision on the constitutionality of Denmark's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, 50 Common Mkt. L. Rev. 1489 (2013) (“Denmark might be among the more skeptic EU members, and this may be reflected in the Courts decision, but the Danish Supreme Court is not known for making watershed decisions, preferring instead a low profile for itself.”). However, Helle Krunke thinks that Danish courts will act as guardians to ensure that the EU institutions interpret the Lisbon Treaty within the limits of the powers delegated to them by Denmark. According to her, this decision opens the door wide for litigation on EU acts, and Danish citizens are more or less invited to file lawsuits against the State challenging aspects of the constitutionality of the Lisbon Treaty. Helle Krunke, The Danish Lisbon judgment Danish Supreme Court, Case 199/2012, Judgment of 20 February 2013, 10 European Constitutional Law Review (EuConst) 542 (2014).Google Scholar

¹²³ Krunke, , supra note 122.Google Scholar

¹²⁴ To be sure, Denmark has a number of opt-outs on issues that are sensitive also for the Bundesverfassungsgericht. Google Scholar

¹²⁵ See Hirschl, Ran, The Nordic counternarrative: Democracy, human development, and judicial review, 9 Int'l J. Const. L. 449 (2011) and other contributions to the same Symposium on Nordic Juristocracy.Google Scholar

¹²⁶ The CREAA has been enacted as a “separate constitutional act” in order to permit accession to the EU. It has not formally amended the Põhiseadus (Constitution), but has nevertheless substantively amended the entire Constitution. The effects of the CREAA are far reaching: EU law has not only become one of the grounds for the interpretation of the Põhiseadus, but also of its application: only those parts of the Constitution which are in conformity with EU law or which fall outside the scope of EU law are still applicable; the applicability of all the other constitutional provisions is suspended. On the basis of the CREAA, EU law is assimilated with Estonian constitutional law and (temporarily) sets aside any constitutional provision which is incompatible with it; it can also be argued that the CREAA gives EU law primacy (of application) on the Põhiseadus. See Laffranque, Julia, A Glance at the Estonian Legal Landscape in View of the Constitution Amendment Act, Juridica Int'l 55 (2007/XII); Julia Laffranque, The Constitution of Estonia and Estonia's accession to the European Union, 1 Baltic Y.B. Int'l L. Online (2011); Raul Narits, About the Principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia from the Perspective of Independent Statehood in Estonia, Juridica Int'l 58 (2009/XVI).Google Scholar

¹²⁷ Ginter, Carri, Constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism in Estonia: Applying Proportionality to Sovereignty, 9 EuConst 335, 340 (2013).Google Scholar

¹²⁸ Narits, , supra note 126, at 62; see also Tanel Kerikmae & Katrin Nyman-Metcalf, Karlsruhe v. Lisbon An Overture to a Constitutional Dialogue from an Estonian Perspective, 12 Eur. J. L. Ref. 373, 384–85 (2010); Heinrich Schneider, Constitution in a Blast of Changes, Juridica Int'l 4, 11 (2007/XII).Google Scholar

¹²⁹ Narits, , supra note 126, at 62.Google Scholar

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¹³¹ “In a court proceeding, the court shall not apply any law or other legislation that is in conflict with the Constitution. The Supreme Court shall declare invalid any law or other legislation that is in conflict with the provisions and spirit of the Constitution.” Põhiseadus Art. 152.Google Scholar

¹³² Opinion 3-4-1-3-06 of the Constitutional Review Chamber of the Supreme Court of 11 May 2006, para. 16.Google Scholar

¹³³ Opinion. 3-4-1-5-08 of the Constitutional Review Chamber of the Supreme Court of, 26 June 2008, para. 29-31.Google Scholar

¹³⁴ Pilving, & Lapimaa, , supra note 130, under A (emphasis added).Google Scholar

¹³⁵ Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 2006–540DC, July 27, 2006 (Loi relative au droit d'auteur et aux droits voisins dans la société de l'information in Conseil constitutionnel); Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 2011–631DC, June 9, 2011 (Loi relative à l'immigration, à l'intégration et à la nationalité). In fact, the Bundesverfassungsgericht cites only paragraph 19 of Decision no. 2006–540DC of 27 July 2006; paragraph 35 of Decision no. 2011–631DC, which it also cites is identical to paragraphs 19 and 20 of Decision no. 2006–540DC of 27 July 2006.Google Scholar

¹³⁶ O. Dutheillet de Lamothe, Le contrôle de conventionnalité (intervention lors de la visite à la Cour constitutionnelle italienne le 9 mai 2008), available at http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr.Google Scholar

¹³⁷ On the difference between the French and German concepts, see Reestman, Jan-Herman, The Franco-German Constitutional Divide. Reflections on National and Constitutional Identity, 5 EuConst 374 (2009).Google Scholar

¹³⁸ The current president of the Constitutional Council, Jean-Louis Debré, wrote on the notion of French constitutional identity that “le Conseil constitutionnel s'est toujours bien gardé d'en définer précisément le contenu.” Millet, supra note 83, at xii.Google Scholar

¹³⁹ Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 2004–498DC, July 29, 2004, paras. 4–7. According to the “official” Commentaire in Les Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel nos. 17, 29, “Les seules normes constitutionnelles opposables à la transposition d'une directive communautaire sont les dispositions expresses de la Constitution française et propres à cette dernière.”Google Scholar

¹⁴⁰ See also Mathieu, Bertrand, Les rapports normatifs entre le droit communautaire et le droit national. Bilan et incertitudes relatifs aux évolutions récentes de la jurisprudence des juges constitutionnel et administratif français, Revue française de droit constitutionnel 675 (2007/4); Thierry S. Renoux & Michel de Villiers, Code constitutionnel 2011 870 (2011); the “official” comment on the decisions of 10 June 2004 and 29 July 2004, supra note 139, at 17, 28–29.Google Scholar

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¹⁴² This is probably even the case with Article 89(5) Constitution. Although the constituent power has to respect the provision (as long as it exists), the Conseil constitutionnel has also indicated that the constituent power is sovereign and thus competent to amend or repeal the provision as it sees fit, if it wants to even implicitly; Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 92–312DC, Sept. 2, 1992, para. 19.Google Scholar

¹⁴³ Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 2003-469DC, March 26, 2003, paras. 2–3 (concerning a constitutional amendment adopted by the Congrès). In earlier case law the Conseil constitutionnel had already made clear that it has no power to rule on texts adopted by the people in a referendum, Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 62-20DC, Nov. 6, 1962; Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Council] decision no. 92-313DC, Sept. 23, 1993.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁴ BVerfG, Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13 at para. 29.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁵ See on that case, François-Xavier Millet, How much lenience for how much cooperation? On the first preliminary reference of the French Constitutional Council to the Court of Justice, 51 Common Mkt. L. Rev. 195 (2014).Google Scholar

¹⁴⁶ Re Article 26 and the Information (Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 1995, [1995] 1 I.R. 1.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁷ “Nothing in the Treaty on the European Union or in the Treaties establishing the European Communities or in the Treaties or Acts modifying or supplementing those Treaties shall affect the application in Ireland of Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution of Ireland.” In June 2009, after the failed referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council adopted a Decision on the concerns of the Irish people on the TEU, giving a legal guarantee that certain matters of concern to the Irish people would be unaffected by the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon, relating to right to life, family and education, taxation and security and defense was added to the TEU at the occasion of Croatian accession.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁸ Corte costituzionale (Constituional Court), 27 December 1973, n. 183/1973 (Frontini).Google Scholar

¹⁴⁹ In addition to decision no. 170/1984 of 8 June 1984 (Granital) where the Italian Court finally endorsed the mandate of the ordinary courts under EU law and permitted the disapplication of conflicting norms of national law without its prior intervention in a preliminary reference on constitutionality.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁰ Corte costituzionale (Constitutional Court), 21 April 1989, n. 232/1989 (FRAGD) (discussed by G. Gaja, New developments in a continuing story: the relationship between EEC law and Italian law, 27 Common Mkt. L. Rev. 83 (1990); HG Schermers, The scales in balance: national constitutional court v Court of Justice, 27 CMLRev. 97 (1990)).Google Scholar

¹⁵¹ Four years later however, the Constitutional Court reversed that declaration and ordered a general court to make a preliminary reference since the Constitutional Court did not regard itself as a court in sense of Article 234(3) of the Treaty. Today, the Corte costituzionale does refer questions for preliminary ruling to the ECJ, see Corte costituzionale (Constitutional Court), 11 May 2008, n. 103/2008; Corte costituzionale (Constitutional Court), 3 July 2013, n. 207/2013.Google Scholar

¹⁵² Trybunał Konstytucyjny, decision K 18/04 of 11 May 2005 (Accession Treaty); decision K 32/09 of 24 November 2010 (Lisbon Treaty) (the cases were brought after the entry into force of the Treaty); decision SK 45/09 of 16 November 2011 (Brussels Regulation) (Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters).Google Scholar

¹⁵³ See generally Kowalik-Bańczyk, K., Should We Polish It Up? The Polish Constitutional Tribunal and the Idea of Supremacy of EU Law, German L.J. 1357 (2005).Google Scholar

¹⁵⁴ The reference is to n. 2.1. et seq., i.e. about forty pages of the decision.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁵ Excluded from conferral are: decisions specifying the fundamental principles of the Constitution and decisions concerning the rights of the individual which determine the identity of the state, including, in particular, the requirement of protection of human dignity and constitutional rights, the principle of statehood, the principle of democratic governance, the principle of a state ruled by law, the principle of social justice, the principle of subsidiarity, as well as the requirement of ensuring better implementation of constitutional values and the prohibition to confer the power to amend the Constitution and the competence to determine competences.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁶ Para 2.1. in fine.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁷ Para 2.6.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁸ Para 3.8.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁹ With a touch of malignance one could say that the BVerfG refers to itself (speaking through the Polish Trybunał).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁰ Compare Sayn-Wittgenstein, Case C-208/09 with Runević-Vardyn, Case C-391/09.Google Scholar

¹⁶¹ SOU 2008: 125/153, 492.Google Scholar

¹⁶² SOU 2008: 125/153, 494.Google Scholar

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¹⁶⁴ See, e.g., Bull, Thomas, Judges without a Court—Judicial Preview in Sweden, in The Legal Protection of Human Rights: Skeptical Essays (Tom Campbell, KD Ewing & Adam Tomkins eds., 2011); Carl Lebeck's, Sweden, in The National Judicial Treatment of the ECHR and EU Laws - A Comparative Constitutional Perspective (Giuseppe Martinico & Oreste Pollicino eds., 2010).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁵ While the Constitutional Treaty never entered into force, the conception of the relations between the EU and its member states developed therein remain valid, as is evident from the Tribunal's final decision in Tribunal Constitucional, Feb. 13, 2014 (DTC 26/2014) (Melloni).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁶ Tribunal Constitucional, Dec. 13, 2004 (DTC 1/2004, ground 2) (Constitutional Treaty).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁷ Tribunal Constitucional, Dec. 13, 2004 (DTC 1/2004, ground 3) (Constitutional Treaty).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁸ Tribunal Constitucional“ Dec. 13, 2004 (DTC 1/2004, ground 2) (Constitutional Treaty).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁹ Tribunal Constitucional, Dec. 13, 2004 (DTC 1/2004, ground 4) (Constitutional Treaty).Google Scholar

¹⁷⁰ Tribunal Constitucional, Feb. 13, 2014 (DTC 26/2014) (Melloni) (decision handed after the OMT reference of the Bundesverfassungsgericht); on this decision, see Perez, Aida Torres, Melloni in Three Acts: From Dialogue to Monologue, 10 EuConst 308 (2014).Google Scholar

¹⁷¹ See also Vyhnánek, Ladislav, The Eternity Clause in the Czech Constitution as Limit to European Integration. Much Ado About Nothing?, 9 Int'l Const. L. J. 240 (2015).Google Scholar

¹⁷² On the decision and its context, see Bobek, Michal, Landtová, Holubec, and the Problem of an Uncooperative Court: Implications for the Preliminary Rulings Procedure, 10 EuConst 54 (2014); Jan Komarek, Czech Constitutional Court Playing with Matches: the Czech Constitutional Court Declares a Judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU Ultra Vires; Judgment of 31 January 2012, Pl. ÚS 5/12, Slovak Pensions XVII, 8 EuConst 323 (2012). Very few commentators—except perhaps for the president of the German Bundesverfassungsericht— have commented positively on the decision. See Andreas Vosskule, Bewahrung und Erneuerung des Nationalstaats im Lichte der Europäischen Einigung, speech held at the Hessischen Landtag in Wiesbaden (Mar. 1, 2012).Google Scholar

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¹⁷⁴ It concluded, “In a situation where the ECJ was aware that the Czech Republic, as a party to the proceeding, in whose name the government acted, expressed in its statement a negative position on the legal opinion of the Constitutional Court, which was the subject matter for evaluation, the ECJ' statement that the Constitutional Court was a ‘third party’ in the case at hand cannot be seen otherwise than as abandoning the principle audiatur et altera pars.”Google Scholar

¹⁷⁵ Ústavní soud České republiky 8.3.2006 (ÚS) [decision of the Constitutional Court of Mar. 8, 2006] ÚS 50/04 (Sugar Quotas).Google Scholar

¹⁷⁶ Lisbon II at paras. 111–13.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁷ See also Vyhnánek, supra note 171.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁸ “That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.”Google Scholar

¹⁷⁹ For the importance of the decision for the general UK constitutional landscape, see Elliot, Mark, Constitutional legislation, European Union Law and the nature of the United Kingdom's contemporary constitution, 10 EuConst 379 (2104).Google Scholar

¹⁸⁰ On the application of Buckinghamshire County Council and others v. The Secretary of State for Transport, [2014] U.K.S.C. 3, para. 110.Google Scholar

¹⁸¹ Id. at para. 207.Google Scholar

¹⁸² Pham v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2015] U.K.S.C. 19, paras. 90–91.Google Scholar

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¹⁸⁷ Päivi Leino and Janne Salminen, The Euro Crisis and Its Constitutional Consequences for Finland: Is There Room for National Politics in EU Decision-Making?, 9 EuConst 451, 459–60 (2013).Google Scholar

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¹⁸⁹ Art. 8(4) states, “The provisions of the treaties that govern the European Union and the rules issued by its institutions in the exercise of their respective responsibilities shall apply in Portuguese internal law in accordance with Union law and with respect for the fundamental principles of a democratic state based on the rule of law.” Article 277(2) provides, “The organic or formal unconstitutionality of international treaties that have been regularly ratified do not prevent the application of their provisions in Portuguese law as long as the provisions are applied in the law of the other party, except if the said unconstitutionality results from the violation of a fundamental principle.”Google Scholar

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¹⁹² Id. at para. 59.Google Scholar

¹⁹³ Id. at para. 60.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁴ Lisbon at para. 340.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁵ Including Italy, whose Corte costituzionale the BVerfG has ranked among the league of like-minded courts.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁶ Opinion of Advocate General Cruz Villalón, supra note 5, at para. 36.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁷ The word “sincere” is repeated 9 times in the Opinion. The AG also suggested that there was a risk that the preliminary reference procedure was being “manipulated.”Google Scholar

¹⁹⁸ Gauweiler, Case C-62/14 at para. 16.Google Scholar