On 2 July, President of Latvia Egils Levits, who is paying a working visit to the Republic of Austria, visited the Constitutional Court of Austria to discuss the role and challenges of constitutional courts with respect to national legal systems, and ways of deepening dialogue with Court of Justice of the European Union.
President Levits emphasised that European Union (EU) is built on common values, including democratic pluralism on the one hand and shared understanding of the fundamental principles of the rule of law on the other hand. Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) must respect the equality of fundamental national constitutional structures protected by constitutional courts, which form part of the national identity in the understanding of the Treaty of the European Union. And constitutional courts must also respect the CJEU case-law in areas beyond such scope.
On the fundamental principles of the rule of law, President of Latvia underlined the importance of harmonising them across the EU legal space and ensuring that CJEU has the final say in whether these principles have or have not been violated. In interpreting these principles, CJEU should, in particular, rely on common constitutional traditions among member states, which have evolved primarily through national constitutional courts.