PRINCIPAL ORGANIZERS: CHARLES UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LAW and INSTITUTE OF STATE AND LAW, CZECH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
VENUE: PRAGUE, 27 OCTOBER 2017 (exact location to be specified later)
WORKING LANGUAGES: ENGLISH
Two of the Visegrad countries (Hungary and Poland) have recently witnessed profound transformations of their constitutional courts and their respective powers, in the other two countries (Czech Republic and Slovakia) constitutional review and its legitimacy is subject to intense (and sometimes rather emotional) doctrinal and public debate. Thus, the aim of the one-day workshop shall primarily be to provide an overview of the key elements of these transformations/debates in the respective countries of the Visegrad group and to trace their impact upon the legal and political environment of these countries. Secondly and essentially, the workshop shall address the issue of whether these transformations can be seen as a direct consequence of relevant case-law of these constitutional courts and their political role in the post-Communist period, or whether they rather result from the public perception that constitutional courts excessively interfere into the everyday politics or whether they form a part of the political redesign of public institutions in these countries. As a point of comparison, we would like to mention the example of Austria. The constitutional design concerning the place and role of the Austrian Verfassungsgerichtshof does not essentially differ from the other countries of the CEE region. Therefore, after the years of post-Communist transformation in which the Visegrad constitutional courts indeed played a significant role, Austria might provide an interesting point of reference for both the lawyers and the general public on the functioning of the constitutional court in an established democracy in Eastern Central Europe.
In terms of the structure of the workshop, the organizers expect two contributions on each country. One of them would assess the on-going debate on the real political role of the constitutional court (taking into account i. a. the workload, structure and effects of the constitutional court´s case-law as well as the reaction of political elites and the public with respect to the most sensitive cases) and one would comment on the current patterns of the debate on the role of constitutional courts in these countries and their transformations.
Interested scholars shall submit an abstract up to 500 words to ondrejko@prf.cuni.cz by 31 August 2017. The committee composed from members of the both convening institutions will notify the selected participants by 5 September 2017.
In case of participants presenting their paper and coming from academies of sciences, travel and living costs might be covered by bilateral exchange programmes. In case of other participants, accommodation costs can be partly borne by the organizers.
For further information please contact Jana Ondřejková at ondrejko@prf.cuni.cz