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19 Eur. Pub. L. 435 (2013)
Czech Republic 2009-2012: On Unconstitutional Amendment of the Constitution, Limits of EU Law and Direct Presidential Elections

handle is hein.kluwer/epl0019 and id is 469 raw text is: Czech Republic 2009-2012: On Unconstitutional Amendment of the Constitution, Limits of EU Law and Direct Presidential Elections IVO SLOSARdf K* In the years 2008 and 2009, the Czech Constitutional Court (CCC) attracted the attention of the international academic and political community, when it ruled twice on the compatibility of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech constitutional order. 1 In both cases, the CCC has constructed its review around a 'super-rigid', non-amendable, constitutional Article 9 paragraph 2, which bans changes of essential requirements for a democratic state governed by the rule of law. This super-rigid constitutional provision forms a material core of the Czech constitutional order and establishes, in the CCCs opinion, ultimate limits of transfer of competencies even to the European Union. In both its 'Lisbon' rulings, the CCC declared that the Lisbon Treaty has not unconstitutionally intervened into the 'material core' of the constitutional order and Czech participation in the post-Lisbon EU was constitutionally compatible.2 The process of elaboration of the concept of the constitutional material core by the CCC has not stopped there and the CCC used the years 2009-2012 to further develop its case law both regarding activities of the Czech Parliament and the European Union. 1 2009 EARLY ELECTIONS: NOT ALL CONSTITUTIONAL ACTS ARE WHAT THEY SEEM TO BE The CCC demonstrated its readiness to use the concept of the material core of the constitutional order in the internal situation in 2009 when it prevented, due to their unconstitutional character, early parliamentary elections to be held, regardless the fact that their organization was based on an ad hoc constitutional act. * Ivo Slosar~ik, Institute of International Area Studies, Charles University in Prague, e-mail: slosarcik@fsv.cuni.cz. CCCs decisions PlUS 19/08 and PI.JS 29/09 For more detailed analysis, see SIosarik & Ivo, Czech Republic 2006-2008: On President, Judges and the Lisbon Treaty, 16 European Pub. L. 1-16 (2010). losariik & Ivo, The Treaty of Lisbon and the Czech Constitutional Court: Act 1I, CEPS Policy Brief 197/27. Brussels: CEPS 2009. Available at http://www.ceps.eu/book/treaty-lisbon-and-czech-cons titutional-court-act-ii. 2 Technically, the CCC did not decide on constitutional compatibility of the Lisbon Treaty with Czech constitutional order in general. Instead, the CCC decided only issues explicidy raised in the respective constitutional petitions. Slosarcik, Ivo. 'Czech Republic 2009-2012: On Unconstitutional Amendment of the Constitution, Linits of EU Law and Direct Presidential Elections'. European Public Law 19, no. 3 (2013): 435-448. © 2013 Kiuwer Law International BV, The Netherlands

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