Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Premessa. – 2. Mutamenti costituzionali informali “interni”: il ruolo delle Corti costituzionali. – 2.1. La “Costituzione invisibile” nella giurisprudenza della Corte costituzionale ungherese. – 3. Mutamenti costituzionali informali “esterni”: il processo di “europeizzazione”. – 3.1. Adesione all’UE e mutamenti formali. – 3.2. Adesione all’UE e mutamenti informali. – 4. Osservazioni conclusive.

Abstract

The article explores the complex, and highly differentiated, phenomenon of informal constitutional changes in Central and Eastern Europe through a distinction between an “internal” and an “external” dimension. The former has been driven mainly by national Constitutional Courts, which had a key-role in defining the principles of the new constitutional orders. The best example of this particular process is the case of the Hungarian Constitutional Court which crafted, through its activist jurisprudence, what has been called an “invisible constitution”. As far as the “external” dimension is concerned, the article focuses on the impact of the phase of “europeanisation” upon the post-communist constitutional order.It is shown how the “conditionality” of EU accession has affected the internal constitutional development of Eastern European candidate States, mainly by strengthening the power of the Executive. In the final section, the article focuses on the dynamics of the post-accession period, in which the above mentioned dimensions seem to be constantly interacting.