Balancing Democracy and Human Rights
The Role of Constitutional Identity in the European Court of Human Rights' Recent Jurisprudence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2024.8.2.854Keywords:
Power-sharing, Constitutional Identity, Democracy v. Human Rights, Multi-ethnic States, European Court of Human Rights, Margin of AppreciationAbstract
The paper examines the tension between democracy, human rights, and power-sharing constitutional arrangements in multi-ethnic states, focusing on the Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina case and contrasting it with recent Latvian cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It analyses the significance of the Kovačević judgement, which found Bosnia’s ethnic-based power-sharing system discriminatory, and the Latvian cases, where the ECtHR accepted ‘constitutional identity’ as a legitimate aim for differential treatment. The paper discusses the concept of constitutional identity, its recognition by the ECtHR, and the potential challenges it poses to the protection of human rights. It explores the balance between respecting democratic choices, constitutional identities, and upholding individual rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
References
Aras, F. I. (2020). Una constitución para la paz: Federalismo y consociacitivismo en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Revista Electrónica De Derecho Internacional Contemporáneo, 3(3), 127-134.
Bardutzky, S. (2010). The Strasbourg Court on the Dayton Constitution: Judgment in the case of Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 December 2009. European Constitutional Law Review, 6(2), 309-333, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1574019610200081
Bard, P., Chronowski, N. and Fleck, Z. (2023). Use, misuse, and abuse of constitutional identity in Europe. CEU DI Working Papers, 6, 1–45.
Baudoin, M. É. (2022). Constitutional identity, a new legal Babel in Europe. Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies, 63(1), 21-37, https://doi.org/10.1556/2052.2022.00398
Boldt, H. (2012). Ending consociational power-sharing. The Sejdić and Finci case and the prospects for constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ICL Journal, 6(3-4), 489-547, https://doi.org/10.1515/icl-2012-3-408
Donnelly, M. P. (2020). Democracy and sovereignty vs international human rights: reconciling the irreconcilable? The International Journal of Human Rights, 24(10), 1429-1450, https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2018.1454904
Drinóczi, T. (2020). Constitutional identity in Europe: The identity of the constitution. A regional approach. German Law Journal, 21(2), 105–129, https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2020.1
Faraguna, P. (2017). Constitutional identity in the EU–A shield or a sword? German Law Journal, 18(7), 1617-1640, https://doi.org/10.1017/S207183220002246X
Faraguna, P. and Drinóczi, T. (2022). Constitutional identity in and on EU terms. Verfassungsblog. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/constitutional-identity-in-and-on-eu-terms/ (accessed on 05.04.2024). DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20220222-001059-0
Ganty, S., Kochenov, D. V. and Nugraha, I. Y. (2023). Constitutional identity vs. human rights: The ECtHR’s bizarre turn in three Latvian cases. Verfassungsblog. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/constitutional-identity-vs-human-rights/ (accessed on 14.10.2024). DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.59704/55184a96adabe0b0
Graziadei, S. (2016). Democracy v human rights? The Strasbourg Court and the challenge of power-sharing. European Constitutional Law Review, 12(1), 54-84, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1574019616000043
Grimm, D. (2023). Three meanings of constitutional identity and their prospects in the European Union. In: de Poorter, J., van der Schyff, G., Stremler, M., De Visser, M., Leijten, I. and van Oirsouw, C. (Eds.), European Yearbook of Constitutional Law 2022: A constitutional identity for the EU? (vol. 4, pp. 13–15). T.M.C. Asser Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-595-9
Halmai, G. and Scholtes, J. (2024). Illiberal constitutionalism and the abuse of constitutional identity. In: Hirschl, R. and Roznai, Y. (Eds.), Deciphering the genome of constitutionalism: The foundations and future of constitutional identity (pp. 272–273). Cambridge University Press.
Hulsey, J. and Keil, S. (2021). Power-sharing and party politics in the Western Balkans. In: Keil, S. and McCulloch, A. (Eds.), Power-sharing in Europe. Federalism and internal conflicts (pp. 115–139). Palgrave Macmillan.
Istrefi, K. (2023). Kovačević v Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the saga of the Dayton Peace Agreement’s incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. EJIL:Talk!. Available at: https://www.ejiltalk.org/kovacevic-v-bosnia-and-herzegovina-and-the-saga-of-the-dayton-peace-agreements-incompatibility-with-the-european-convention-on-human-rights/ (accessed on 02.04.2024).
Kovács, K. (2017). The rise of an ethnocultural constitutional identity in the jurisprudence of the East Central European Courts. German Law Journal, 18(7), 1703–1720, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200022501
Körtvélyesi, Z. and Majtényi, B. (2017). Game of values: The threat of exclusive constitutional identity, the EU and Hungary. German Law Journal, 18(7), 1721–1743, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200022513
Lewis, C. E. (2023). The European Court of Human Rights and its search for common values. European Convention on Human Rights Law Review, 4(2), 179–220.
Marko, J. (2023). The Kovačević case revisited: The ECtHR Grand Chamber may de-block the constitutional impasse in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Verfassungsblog. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/the-kovacevic-case-revisited/ (accessed on 14.10.2024).
Merdzanovic, A. (2017). Imposed consociationalism: External intervention and power-sharing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Peacebuilding, 5(1), 22-35, https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2016.1264918
Nugraha, I. Y. (2023). Protection of constitutional identity as a legitimate aim for differential treatment. European Constitutional Law Review, 19(1), 141-162, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1574019622000463
Piacentini, A. (2020). Nonaligned citizens: Ethnic power-sharing and nonethnic identities in Bosnia Herzegovina – The case of Sarajevo. Nationalities Papers, 48(4), 707-720, https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2019.61
Pildes, R. H. (2018). Supranational courts and the law of democracy: The European Court of Human Rights. Journal of International Dispute Settlement, 9(2), 154-179, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnlids/idx007
Rosenfeld, M. (2012). Constitutional identity. In: Rosenfeld, M. and Sajó, A. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative constitutional law (pp. 756–757). Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780199578610.001.0001
Scholtes, J. (2021). Abusing constitutional identity. German Law Journal, 22(4), 534-556, https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2021.21
Scholtes, J. (2023). The abuse of constitutional identity in the European Union. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198883173.003.0001
Simovic, V. (2022). Evropske integracije Bosne i Hercegovine i logika konsocijalizma [European Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Logic of Consocialism]. Socioloski godisnjak [Sociological Yearbook], 17, 49-64, https://doi.org/10.5937/socgod17-42077
Son, B. N. (2017). Globalization of constitutional identity. Washington International Law Journal, 26(3), 463-533.
Tzifakis, N. (2007). The Bosnian peace process: The power-sharing approach revisited. Perspectives, No. 28, 85-102.
Woelk, J. (2023). Opening Pandora’s box? On the Kovačević case and the European Court of Human Rights’ fundamental criticism of the electoral system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Verfassungsblog. Available at: https://verfassungsblog.de/opening-pandoras-box/ (accessed on 15.04.2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17176/20230901-183000-0
Yehuda, L. (2023). Collective equality: Human rights and democracy in ethno-national conflicts. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009090988
Zand, J. (2017). The concept of democracy and the European Convention on Human Rights. Indiana International and Comparative Law Review, 27(1), 15-42, https://doi.org/10.18060/7909.0045
CJEU, judgement of 16 February 2022, Hungary v. European Parliament and Council of the European Union, C-156/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:97.
CJEU, judgment of 16 February 2022, Republic of Poland v. European Parliament and Council of the European Union, C-157/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:98.
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, U-5/98 (30 June and 1 July 2000).
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, U-23/14 (1 December 2016).
ECtHR, Ždanoka v. Latvia [GC], app. no. 58278/00, 17 June 2004.
ECtHR, Sejdić and Finci v. B&H [GC], app. nos. 27996/06 and 34836/06, 22 December 2009.
ECtHR, Zornić v. B&H, app. no. 3681/06, 15 July 2014.
ECtHR, Šlaku v. B&H, app. no. 56666/12, 26 May 2016.
ECtHR, Pilav v. B&H, app. no. 41939/07, 9 June 2016.
ECtHR, Pudarić v. B&H, app. no. 55799/18, 8 December 2020.
ECtHR, Savickis and Others v. Latvia [GC], app. no. 49270/11, 9 June 2022.
ECtHR, Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, app. no. 43651/22, 29 August 2023.
ECtHR, Valiullina and Others v. Latvia, app. nos. 56928/19, 7306/20 and 11937/20, 14 September 2023.
ECtHR, Džibuti and Others v. Latvia, app. nos. 225/20 and 2 others, 16 November 2023.
Germany, Federal Constitutional Court, 2 BvE 2/08 (30 June 2009).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Bratislava Law Review
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Author(s) transfers copyright to the Article to the Publisher of the Journal by the Licence Agreement.
The Author(s) retains rights specified in the Licence Agreement.
The readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all of the Article of the Journal and use them for any other lawful purpose under specified Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
How to Cite
