Learning co-operative constitutionalism the hard way: the Hungarian Constitutional Court shying away from EU supremacy

András Sajó

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

The constitutional problems emerging in Hungary immediately after accession indicate the difficulty of bringing the legal system of new member states into an efficiently working harmony with EU law. In April, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a law on agricultural surplus stocks, implementing a relevant Regulation by the EU Commission. Upon request of the President of the Republic, however, the Constitutional Court found this legislation unconstitutional on May. The analysis of this case reveals that what was deemed to be in violation of legal security under the Court’s doctrines was expressly mandated by the Regulation. Whatever the reasons for this decision were, the incident shows that the state organs of new EU members have still to learn the rules of “co-operative constitutionalism”. On the other hand, in Central and East Europe this learning is made difficult by a historically determined serious commitment to fundamental rights, as the strict requirement of exclusive parliamentary regulation was established against the unlawfulness of the communist regime.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)351-371
Number of pages21
JournalZEITSCHRIFT FUR STAATS- UND EUROPAWISSENSCHAFTEN
Volume2
Issue number3
StatePublished - 2004

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