The President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Mirsad Ćeman is attending the XVII Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts in Batumi, Georgia, from 20 to 30 June 2017.
As an extremely important event, the XVII Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts gathered an impressive number of participants from all over the world, Presidents and Judges of European Constitutional Courts and equivalent bodies, representatives of linguistic and regional groups of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice, Venice Commission, presidents and members of other international organisations and institutions.
Within the framework of three sessions of the XVII Congress, the attendees are discussing the following subjects: “The Role of the Constitutional Courts in Upholding and Applying Constitutional Principles", “The Role of the Constitutional Court in Defining and Applying Explicit/Implicit Constitutional Principles", “Constitutional principles as higher norms”.
In addition to his active participation in the work of the XVII Congress and “the Circle of Presidents”, the President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will have bilateral meetings with his colleagues, judges and presidents of the constitutional courts from other countries. They will discuss various subjects, first of all the current situation related to the constitutional judiciary in Europe and region.
The Conference of European Constitutional Court was created by the Constitutional Courts of the Federal Republic of Germany, Republic of Austria, Republic of Italy and former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1972. The constitutional courts of a number of other countries joined the Conference, notably during the last century. Presently, the Conference of European Constitutional Court is gathering 40 European constitutional courts and the other highest institutions called upon to perform the function of constitutional judiciary.
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted to membership of the Conference of European Constitutional Court at the Preparatory Meeting of the XII Congress of European Constitutional Courts held Brussels in 2000. Since then, it has participated on a regular basis in the sessions of the Congress (Brussels 2002, Nicosia 2005, Vilnius 2008, Bucharest 2011, Vienna 2014).
International multilateral and bilateral cooperation is the framework within which the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina promotes, at the international level, its doctrine, experience and case-law, notably in the field of the rule of law, protection and promotion of the importance of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. In that way, the Constitutional Court contributes to the values of the European civilization and legal acquis, and, at the same time, is inspired by it.
