At the invitation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia, CCU Judge Galyna Yurovska took part in the international conference "The Role of Constitutional Courts in concretising the shared values uniting Europe", dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Latvia's accession to the European Union and held on 1 March in Riga.
The conference was opened by the President of the Constitutional Court, Aldis Lavins, and the Minister of Justice, Inese Libini-Egnere. The conference was held in the format of two panels.
The first panel session of the Conference opened the discussion on the possibilities of balancing the constitutional identities of the Member States with the common European values defended by the European Union and the Council of Europe. The conference aimed to achieve greater convergence in understanding how to legally distinguish between "true" constitutional identities and common European values and other values.
The second panel discussion was dedicated to the concept of the European consensus, which the European Court of Human Rights often utilizes in justifying its decisions, expanding the scope of fundamental rights already enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
During the event, the participants emphasised that the key values that unite all member states of the Council of Europe and the European Union are democracy, the rule of law and human rights. At the same time, the national constitutional identity of some states may also include distinct elements, such as the obligation to protect the state language. Therefore, the protection of national constitutional identities and common European values significantly depends on the balance between them and their harmonious interaction. In this balancing act, an important role is played by the dialogue between constitutional courts and the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
On behalf of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Judge Galyna Yurovska greeted her Latvian colleagues on the 20th anniversary of Latvia's accession to the European Union, emphasizing the importance of the partnership between the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine within the new Council of Europe project “Support to development of constitutional justice in Ukraine”.
The speaker noted that all judges highly value this partnership and the experience of European constitutional courts, including the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia, in implementing European values in the exercise of constitutional jurisdiction.
Galyna Yurovska specifically emphasized that Ukrainians are currently defending European values and their national identity on the front lines, and everyone should remember this.
