The European Model of Constitutional Review Before the Challenges of European Integration

Abstract

Integration processes developing on the European continent have a significant impact on the legal systems of the Council of Europe and EU member states. The author considers the changes which in this context the European model of constitutional review, accepted in most European countries, is subjected to. All its classical features are subject to erosion. The legal systems in which it operates are no longer strictly hierarchically organized; the national constitution ceases to be the sole and irrefutable benchmark of constitutional review; constitutional courts are largely losing their unique position as bodies authorized to make final decisions on constitutionality, sharing these powers with supranational courts and national courts of general and special jurisdiction. The author substantiates that in conditions of decentralization of constitutional control the legal certainty and coherence of legal order can be ensured only by achieving a coherent understanding of basic constitutional principles within different jurisdictions