The contribution takes stock of the intense legislative activity occurred in the last year in Russia. This has taken place against the background of a "frozen" political regime which is deeply concerned about the activity of "non-systemic" opposition and "foreign agents", and increasingly aggressive in international relations
The paper analyses the intersections of Polish and European constitutionalism in the inter-war period. Although Poland had followed a unique constitutional path due to its historical background, nevertheless the general constitutional tendencies of that time still influenced the 1921 Constitution, as happened for example with the long and detailed bill of rights (full of both liberal and social rights), the important role of parliamentary system, the republican ideas, the strong democratic stance of the Constitution. The inter-war constitutionalism remains an important reference point for the following constitutional waves in Europe
Now that the path of constitutional reform in Russia has reached its conclusion, with the adoption of almost all the implementing measures of Constitutional Amendment Law of the 14th March 2020, a more thoughtful reflection on the rationale of this complex constitutional restructuring is needed, taking into account long-term political and cultural phenomena
The essay offers a general overview of the Law on the Amendment of the Russian Constitution, which was signed by the President on 14 March 2020 and will be submitted to popular ratification on the 1st of July. The article aims to highlight the shortcomings both in terms of the procedure followed, which was unusual, and of the Law's contents, which reinforce Presidential competences and role. This is particularly significant as, as a general rule, the power distribution does not change when specific elements − already present in the legislation and in the institutional practice − are introduced at a constitutional level
Initially underestimated, the coronavirus epidemic in Russia reached significant proportions in just a few weeks, putting the country in forth place worldwide for the number of those infected. The reactions of the authorities have indicated increasing levels of alarm, but without reaching the threshold of a general lockdown. The main responsibility for the safety of the population was delegated to the 'governors' of the federated subjects (with the lion's share falling on the Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin). However, the difficult work of containing the economic fallout was left in the hands of the federal Government, under the menacing eye of President Putin
The degeneration of contemporary democracies has attracted the attention of constitutional law scholars in recent years. The leading categorizations include illiberal democracies, authoritarian constitutionalism and populist constitutionalism. The paper tries to reconstruct the current debate confronting it with the theory of democratization, which was widespread in the 1990' and 2000' years. The author considers the current literature on the topic to be a specular paradigm towards the previous transitology pattern but proposes a strict understanding of the new pattern
Limitations on the independence of constitutional courts are among the main pointers of constitutional regression. Taking a cue from the best-known cases in Europe and Latin America (Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela) the paper considers how the 'normalization' or 'neutralization' of the courts has triggered and then maintained illiberal degeneration (since these institutions are the major counter-balance to the political majority). The paper explores the role played by the 'reformed' courts in the new political reality, and also takes into account the dialogue with international courts. The latter aspect is very sensitive, considering the tough implementation of the judgements of supranational courts in cases of constitutional 'sovereignism'. The analysis will be performed using the method of comparative law.
1. Russofobia, fake news e reazioni degli attori europei; 2. La posizione russa in materia di politica estera e rapporti con l'Unione europea; 3. Soft power, populismo e sovranismo: la narrativa dominante e le sue mistificazioni; 3.1. Il "popolo profondo", l'equivalente russo del deep state; 3.2. Tradizioni e identità costituzionale; 4. La stampa russa e le elezioni europee e le prospettive future delle relazioni Russia-UE.
This paper analyses the use of the rule of law principle in the jurisprudence of the constitutional courts of the new member states of the European Union. The purpose is to discover whether past or recent decisions could clarify the use of the principle in these countries. An example is the legalistic concept of the rule of law as expressed by the Hungarian and Polish constitutional courts when they examined the constitutionality of the lustration laws. On the other hand, some constitutional courts (such as the Czech one) have used a wider and more sophisticated application of the rule of law. Considering the severe rule of law crisis which has been taking place in Hungary and Poland in recent years, this recognition is particularly important in order to avoid cumulative judgments that could devalue the former communist countries in general, trivializing the harsh path of democratic conditionality with its strengths and weaknesses
The paper focuses on the main conceptual issues (classifications, terminology, methodology) relating to the phenomenon of the degeneration of contemporary democracies that have attracted the attention of different social sciences in recent years. It begins with a reconstruction of the main cultural trends of democracy (classical, liberal, socialist, social, radical, and so on) then continues by exploring the current debate. The debate focuses on some leading categorizations: illiberal democracies, authoritarian constitutionalism and populist constitutionalism
The essay analyses the constitutional developments in Hungary since 2010 comparing them with those occurring in Poland in the last 4 years. The comparison highlights both similarities and differences in the current constitutional 'involution' of the two countries considering especially the impact on the constitution and the role played by constitutional courts. Constitutional regressions are considered in the overall framework of EU democratic conditionality and the measures to deal with the rule of law crisis.
Based on the analysis of some legal systems which are paradigmatic in terms of their constitutional 'regression', the essay identifies the way in which are besieged and then subjugated by populist political majorities. These phenomena take place despite the fact that the relative countries belong to international organizations imposing democratic conditionality before the entry but which provide weak – though not absent – answers to the crisis of democracy. These are relatively new phenomena posing new challenges to the classifications of public law doctrine
the article analyzes the current rule of law crisis in Hungary and Poland trying to discover the causes and framing the problem in a wide comparative framework
Sur la non-approbation par référendum, le 4 décembre 2016, de la réforme constitutionnelle voulue par le gouvernement de Renzi ont pesé plusieurs raisons, certaines de nature politique et d'autres plus strictement techniques-constitutionnelles. Il faut d'abord rappeler la nature particulière du référendum constitutionnel qui se démarque de l'autre typologie importante de référendum existant dans l'ordre juridique italien, à savoir celui d'abrogation des lois. L'intention des constituants était de rendre le référendum constitutionnel un outil à utiliser dans le cas de manque d'un consensus transversal en Parlement entre les partis politiques à la majorité et à l'opposition. Au cours du temps, la nature de ce référendum a néanmoins changé, comme en témoigne à la fois la pratique que la doctrine: d'instrument «oppositionnel» par rapport à une incertaine volonté parlementaire à outil «de confirmation» en une direction presque plébiscitaire de réformes d'origine gouvernementale. Ce changement de sens n'a pas été sans douleur, cependant, comme l'expérience républicaine nous montre. La distorsion de la nature du référendum constitutionnel dans les expériences les plus récentes montre que la tentative de se distancer des objectifs des constituants a échoué. Le débat sur la réforme constitutionnelle et le référendum a produit des divisions profondes non seulement au niveau des forces politiques et de la société civile, mais dans la même communauté des constitutionnalistes avec des affrontements souvent enflammés et avec fortes implications politiques. Du point de vue du contenu, ce que la doctrine a principalement critiqué à la loi de révision constitutionnelle est d'avoir été trop large et hétérogène en prétendant de soumettre aux électeurs une seule question dans plusieurs domaines pour lesquels les points de vue pourraient être divisés. Toutefois, la majorité des constitutionnalistes a considéré valables certaines objectifs de la reforme, tels que l'abolition des provinces ou du Conseil National de l'économie et du travail en vue d'épargne et simplification; l'élimination du bicaméralisme égalitaire avec la transformation du Senat dans une chambre non plus élue directement mais composée de membres sélectionnées par les Conseils régionaux. La valeur constitutionnelle d'autres innovations, telles que l'augmentation de la complexité des procédures législatives ou le renforcement du rôle du gouvernement dans les mêmes procédures législatives, ainsi que l'affaiblissement des régions, ont suscité plus de perplexités. Quelle réflexion peut-on faire sur la relation entre référendum et démocratie en Italie à la lumière de la dernière expérience? Tout d'abord, que le référendum présente à la fois des risques et des opportunités pour la croissance démocratique du pays (opportunités relativement aux référendums législatifs sur des questions d'intérêt civique, sociale et éthique; risques de distorsion et de conservatisme sur les questions constitutionnelles). L'attitude conservatrice de l'électorat italien vers un changement large du texte constitutionnel est claire, comme on l'avait déjà vu en 2006. Et c'est un risque de forcer la volonté populaire aboutant à une manipulation populiste sur les thèmes de la Constitution, qui représente dans l'imaginaire collectif encore quelque chose de sacré et intouchable. La politisation et la personnalisation de la réforme constitutionnelle par le gouvernement a produit des conséquences politiques immédiates avec la démission du Premier ministre et le risque persistent d'instabilité politique et économique du pays avec des reflets lourds pour la crédibilité internationale. Cependant, les mécanismes institutionnels à un plus grand risque de blocage dans notre pays sont traditionnellement ceux liés à la sélection de la classe politique, et en particulier la loi électorale. Comme l'expérience des dernières années nous a appris, sans une réforme sérieuse de cette pièce cruciale des règles du jeu, la démocratie est bloqué, et ne parviennent pas à la débloquer des réformes constitutionnelles profondes, ni l'intervention - bien que précieuse - de la Cour constitutionnelle.
