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The article examines approaches to the interaction of decisions of the Court of the European Union (CJEU) and international obligations in the field of human rights with the constitutional identity of states. Attention is focused on the concepts of "national identity" and "constitutional identity", their relationship, and the introduction of the concept of "national identity" into the European legal order after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty (1993). Attention is drawn to the fact that the primary law of the EU does not contain the concept of "constitutional identity", but this term is widely used in the decisions of the constitutional courts of several EU member states. In these decisions, the constitutional courts raised the issue of the protection of the constitution and constitutionality in the EU member state given the harmonization of legislation and/ or ultra vires decisions. The article notes that the concept of constitutional identity is broad, it covers the historical, political, cultural, and legal identity of the state, as well as the connection of national law with the international and autonomous legal order of the EU. The idea of constitutional identity is dynamic and constantly evolving due to the continuous development of the states themselves. The analysis of various approaches to this interaction based on the German Federal Constitutional Court, Hungarian Constitutional Court, and Italian Constitutional Court was carried out. It is noted that the interaction of CJEU rulings with constitutional identities is based on the principle of primacy of the EU law, and international human rights obligations are based on the conventional feature of the "obligation of uniform interpretation" and universal standards while ignoring the constitutional tradition of the states. It means that CJEU judgments have a higher legal force than national court judgments, while international human rights obligations should become precedents for subsequent national court judgments, not lowering the national standards of human rights protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union requires its Member States to fulfil their commitments stemming from the membership in the EU responsibly and to assist in carrying out tasks flowing from the Treaties and to achieve the Union's objectives in accordance with the principle of sincere cooperation. This scientific thesis points out the responsibility of Member States to fulfil their obligations in bona fide in accordance with principle pacta sunt servanda and it refers to well established case law of the Court of Justice of the EU clarifying the application primacy of EU law over national laws. At the same time it opens the discussion about decisions of constitutional courts related to the primacy of EU law in some EU Member States, in particular in Germany and Poland. This scientific thesis points out the significance of EU law in the process of further deepening of European integration and promoting rule of law values common to the EU Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitutional control in Romania implies the obligation of the courts to apply the decisions of the Constitutional Court and may involve the disciplinary sanctioning of judges for non-compliance with these decisions. Some judges considered that this mechanism may affect their independence, especially if the EU law may come into conflict with the decisions of the Constitutional Court. Our paper highlights that a proper understanding of the constitutional control underlines the essential role of the Constitutional Court for the protection of the democratic state and of the values of the European Union through its dialogue with the CJEU and with the national courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the entry into force of the Interim Agreement in 2005 between the EU and Albania, Albanian judges had the obligation to partly apply several provisions of the agreement (the EU law) even in the pre-accession stage. This position was reinforced in 2009, with the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which laid down the obligation of the Albanian government to approximate its existing and future legislation in line with EU acquis and ensure proper implementation. Consequently, as of 2009, Albanian courts had to apply the EU law. The application of the EU law by Albanian courts entails the duty of judges with a twofold task: firstly, to construe their arguments in line with EU law or as close as possible, and secondly, to set aside the domestic law which is found to be incompatible with the EU law. This paper outlines some Albanian courts' decisions concerning applying the EU Law before accession to the European Union. The paper argues that Albanian judges have adopted a „Euro-friendly" approach by referring to the EU Law and SAA agreement even in the pre-accession period. Nevertheless, looking closely at court decisions, the EU law is applied as a persuasive source of law to support the court's decision and not to explain the importance of relying on EU law or CJEU case law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article aims to examine the social media jurisprudence of national courts in a selected set of EU Member States by focusing on judicial dialogue specifically via references to the case law of other courts. Do judges in social media cases engage with the case law of peers, and if so how and to what extent? The analysis investigates whether national judges draw on the jurisprudence of higher domestic courts, foreign courts and/or European supranational courts—the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)—and explores the use of such jurisprudence. It is based on 147 cases from the constitutional and/or supreme courts of Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Although judicial dialogue is generally limited in the cases under study, the analysis illustrates the different ways in which courts interact with the rulings of peers and informs on the latter's contribution to judicial assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper analyses the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in Czech Republic that has been the last State member to ratify the Treaty. Before the ratification, the Czech Constitutional Court has pronounced two judgments, in which has been studied if the Lisbon Treaty is consistent or not with the Czech Constitutional Order. Both of judgments state that the Treaty is perfectly consistent with the national constitutional order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitutional Court Decision about the Lisbon Treaty claims a more important role for national parliament in the European integration process. Nevertheless, the Court thinks more in terms of transfer of powers than in the exercise of them. The Court Decision follows the interpretation given in his previous decision about the Maastricht Treaty («Maastricht Decision»), although introduces some precisions. From its reading one might think that the Court is mainly interesting in dress the dynamic of the European integration with legal instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on the verdict of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany or Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG) in which it identified the European Union (EU) as a Staatenverbund or an association of sovereign states. He notes that the verdict, called the Lissabon-Urteil, over the compatibility of the Treaty of Lisbon with the Constitution has initiated a fundamental debate about the nature of the EU. He discusses whether the EU can be classified other than a union of states.