On 24 and 25 February 2021, the delegation of the Constitutional Court of Romania composed of Professor Valer Dorneanu, President, Mrs Livia-Doina Stanciu, Mr Gheorghe Stan, Judges, Mrs Marieta Safta, First Assistant-Magistrate and Mrs Claudia-Margareta Krupenschi, Assistant-Magistrate-in-chief, Director of the President’s Office participated in the XVIII Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts with the topic: “Human rights and fundamental freedoms: the relationship of international, supranational and national catalogues in the 21st century”, hosted in online format by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, event hosted by the presidency of this international forum.
The Constitutional Court of Romania has been a full member of the Conference of the European Constitutional Courts since 1994.
Alongside the distinguished representatives of the European Constitutional Courts, members of the Conference, the event was attended by Mr Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission, Mr Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights, and Mr Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The messages of the special guests touched upon key points for the smooth conduct of constitutional justice:
- the role of constitutional courts as defender of fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law;
- interference and complementarity between the international legal instruments applicable to the protection of human rights, namely, in particular, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, on the one hand, and national constitutions, on the other;
- the relationship/judicial dialogue between the constitutional courts — the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union;
- • the need to respect the principle of the independence of the judge and the rule of law in judicial activity, as well as the imperative of rejecting any act of pressure or intimidation of constitutional judges.