Professor Geir Ulfstein explains European Constitutionalism












            ******************************************************************************************

            * Professor Geir Ulfstein explains European Constitutionalism
            ******************************************************************************************
            On Wednesday afternoon, 29 April 2015, Charles University’s Faculty of Law, hosted a lectu

            questioned whether the European Court of Human Rights (EUCHR) could act as a Constitutiona
            Europe. Professor Geir Ulfstein, who lecturers at the University of Oslo at the Norwegian 
            Rights, has massively contributed to the field of European law through his numerous academ

            For this reason, the event was attended by numerous European legal scholars in order to he
            Professor had to say about the possibility of supranational European Constitutional entity
            Professor Ulfstein began by differentiating between views on constitutionalism in Europe. 

            that first view emphasizes that the European Court of Human Rights has constitutional aspe
            be enhanced. The second view, however, emphasizes that the relationship between European n

            EUCHR is pluralist and that the relationship should remain this way. Overall, Professor Ul
            clear that there is no one model of a constitutional court because these are adopted accor
            country and caution must be taken when trying to implement models from other countries.

            The idea that the EUCHR could act as a constitutional court stems from the idea that it ha
            over all national and European cases. Judicial review is then adjudicated from the Europea
            on Human Rights (the “Convention”) as opposed to the national law of the case being review

            cases, the national law of some member states has been reformed in line with the Conventio
            the EUCHR’s ruling are superior to those of national law because regardless of whether the
            contravenes national law, they must be accepted as the current precedent.  

            Professor Ulfstein then pointed out that contravention of national law by the EUCHR’s ruli
            a blurred distinction between the importance of EUCHR and other European Courts. According
            other European Courts also have important constitutional features and so it is important t

            are guided by the same constitutional features, namely, the Convention which encourages su
            national federal systems. This can only be ensured by firstly applying national remedies a
            bringing the issue to the respective European Court. The application of such universal con

            principles featured in von Hannover v Germany (1973) and S.A.S v France (2010).
            Subsidiarity within national federal systems can take a bottom up as well as top down appr
            subsidiarity takes a top down approach it allows for legislation to be managed from a Euro

            However, from a bottom down perspective, national courts can determine the specific scope 
            which balances the power of rulings from the European level. This is also known as positiv
            Furthermore, national courts can also become more active at a national level to mitigate a

            intrusive policies from European judgements. Positive subsidiarity therefore points to a n
            European law, one of separation of powers, and self-confident and more active national cou
            Upon concluding his lecture, Professor Ulfstein was asked, “should other European courts c

            Convention as the EUCHR?” Ulfstein responded by saying that should other Courts use the sa
            this would question the relationship between courts and whether any courts would receive a
            appreciation. In order to overcome this, Ulfstein explained that more reviews would be nec

            that the importance of all European and national Courts is not undermined.
            Sources
            For more insight on Prof. Ulfstein’s idea of Constitutional Europe read his work: The Cons

            of International Law (2009)
            For more information on Prof. Ulfstein’s academic record [ URL "http://ulfstein.net/"]
            European Convention on Human Rights [ URL "http://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_en