Top court head calls for closer cooperation between courts in EU

Budapest (MTI) – Closer cooperation is needed between the constitutional courts of the European Union in order to handle problems concerning how EU law and member states’ constitutional environments relate to each other, the head of Hungary’s constitutional court said on Thursday, after a summit of top courts from the Visegrad Group (V4).

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia joined the EU at the same time in 2004 and transferred certain powers to the EU in order to fulfil common goals, noted Tamas Sulyok. At the same time, certain obligations and tasks entered their legal systems, which has brought up the problem of primacy and conflicts between EU law and the constitutional systems of member states, he added.

The relationship between the legal systems of the EU and its member states is not confined to subordination or primacy; they are partly on equal ground, in a network, which can be improved by continuous dialogue, Sulyok said. The aim of organising the summit is to promote such dialogue, he added.

Czech constitutional court head Pavel Rychetsky said that creating a balance between the priority of EU law and “the inviolable virtues” of the legal systems of member states is one of the most critical issues facing the EU. “We are at crossroads and we need to find the way forward”, he added.

Photo: frsz.hu

Source: MTI