Articles for category: English Articles

Rescue Package For Fundamental Rights: Comments by ANTJE WIENER

While “safety umbrella” (German: “Rettungsschirm”) is perhaps not the word of the month, the Solange Reversed proposal suggested by the Bogdandy team makes a strong case for linking fundamental rights and citizenship. Both are type 1 norms of constitutionalism, i.e. norms which express fundamental ethical values of a community and which are therefore generally agreed among democratic actors. As such, both fundamental norms are uncontested in the way they are defined by Article 2 (fundamental rights) and Article 20 (citizenship rights) of the Lisbon Treaty (TEU), respectively.

22. März 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by MATTIAS KUMM

Hungarian Premier Victor Orban and his ruling party Fidesz, after having received 53% of the votes in the previous election but 68% of parliamentary seats, have transformed Hungarian institutions, effectively asserting and entrenching control over courts and the justice system, the media and the electoral system to align them with the interests of the ruling party (Jan-Werner Müller and Kim Lane Scheppele have provided compelling descriptions). This slide to authoritarianism should be a concern to constitutionalists, wherever it occurs, but it should be of special concern to EU citizens.

29. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Further Comments from PETER LINDSETH

It is a tribute to the thoughtfulness of the Heidelberg proposal that it has stimulated such a provocative exchange of views so far. It is quite obvious that, regardless of one’s position vis-à-vis the merits of ‘reverse Solange’, there is widely shared concern regarding the evolution of the Hungarian regime. Therefore, at least on an instrumental level, the debate is primarily over the proper balance between judicial and political approaches in challenging that evolution, a debate that the Heidelberg proposal has stimulated quite nicely. But on a deeper level—one of principle—the debate has been over the character of European integration ... continue reading

28. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by RENATA UITZ

In order to full appreciate the Heidelberg proposal, I believe it is important to read it not only as a reaction to the developments of the last year and a half in Hungary, but as a response to a deeper problem of the European Union, of which the Hungarian case is only a grave symptom. From the EU perspective what makes the Hungarian case worthy of reflection is the lack of compelling force in the reactions of the EU to national developments which clearly appeared to go against fundamental principles of constitutionalism, rule of law and the protection of human ... continue reading

27. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by DIMITRY KOCHENOV

Armin von Bogdandy and his team have come up with a most fascinating proposal which advances our understanding of the profound connection between EU citizenship and rights. While the general line of argument in the proposal is promising, it is submitted that the proposal is probably not as innovative and not as practical as its authors suggest. Nevertheless, it is an important starting point for further scrutiny of the evolution of the interrelation between EU citizenship, fundamental rights, and the division of competences between the EU and the Member States. In my response I adopt an approach to EU federalism ... continue reading

27. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by WOJCIECH SADURSKI

The Hungarian debacle is both a challenge and an opportunity for the EU. It is a challenge, because for the first time the EU faces the situation of one of its member states so blatantly and clearly violating certain principles of democracy and human rights protection, taken for granted as part of the moral values upon which the EU is built. (The first time, because the “Haider affair”, often invoked in this context, cannot be seen as a precedent, for reasons mentioned below.) But it is also an opportunity. An opportunity for the EU to demonstrate that it takes its ... continue reading

24. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by DANIEL THYM

The parallels between the emergency rescue operations for the Euro and the fundamental rights intervention of the ECJ in Hungary are evident: both cases reveal structural shortcomings of the EU Treaties and the advocates of „more Europe“ support enhanced supranational supervision and control. This return to the method of integration of the 1970s is risky. The shortcomings of the EU Treaties are obvious. The creation of the Euro has not been accompanied by a common EU economic policy and EU fundamental rights are characterized by  asymmetry. It is unconvincing that the EU scrutinises the human rights compliance of accession candidates ... continue reading

23. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by DANIEL HALBERSTAM

I welcome the Heidelberg proposal! Several years ago – long before the Zambrano judgment confirmed the idea – I wrote a piece explaining that a “reverse Solange” idea could already be discerned from such early cases as Carpenter and Chen. Despite the doctrinal niceties that provided certain formal limits to those early cases, it was clear that the European Court of Justice had virtually plenary jurisdiction over fundamental rights throughout the European Union. With the adoption of the binding Charter of Fundamental Rights, that is even more evident today. Since U.S. analogies have been bandied about, let me throw in ... continue reading

22. Februar 2012

Rescue Package for Fundamental Rights: Comments by PETER LINDSETH

I’d like to thank Alexandra, Max, and Christoph for inviting me to participate in this fascinating exchange.  As an American, I feel like the outsider here.  Moreover, I have just written a book (in part from an American perspective, but also deeply grounded in integration history) that argues that the EU is best understood as ‘administrative, not constitutional’.  So it should perhaps be unsurprising that I am reluctant to endorse the deeply constitutionalist ‘reverse Solange’ proposal of Armin von Bogdandy and his team. I generally join in the cogent reservations already expressed by several commenters (notably by Pál Sonnevend, Anna ... continue reading

18. Februar 2012

Rescue Package For Fundamental Rights: Comments by ANNA KATHARINA MANGOLD

In their post on Verfassungsblog, the Heidelberg research team around Armin von Bogdandy proposes to enrich the “substance” of European citizenship with the essence of fundamental rights and to let the ECJ control the observance of this substance, upon request of national courts in the member states. However sympathetic one might be towards the cause, the proposal encounters several fundamental objections:

15. Februar 2012