National Courts and Institutions as Guardians of the European Rechtsstaat/Rule of Law
Lecture by Justice at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Professor Dr. Andreas L. Paulus. Commentary by Justice at the Supreme Court of Norway, Ingvald Falch.
Main content
In recent years, the Rechtstaat/Rule of Law has come under increasing pressure in several European countries. In the last year alone, the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union have in a number of decisions found that the controversial justice reforms in Poland violates fundamental European Rule of Law principles.
In Norway, the Supreme Court recently pronounced an important decision on surrender of a Norwegian citizen to Poland pursuant to a European arrest warrant (HR-2022-863-A). At the same time, European states are increasingly interconnected through a European Rule of Law framework in the European Convention of Human Rights and EU law. We ask the following question: How and to what extent are national courts and institutions guardians of the European Rechtsstaat/Rule of Law?
About the lecturers
Professor Dr. Andreas L. Paulus is a Justice at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany since 2010. Since 2006 he is professor in public law and international law at the Georg-August Universität Göttingen. He is considered to be a leading expert in international law and as published widely in international law and constitutional law.
Ingvald Falch is a Justice at the Supreme Court of Norway. He has previously worked as an attorney at the Office of the Attorney General of Norway and as a partner in the law firm Schjødt. He delivered the Supreme Court’s opinion in HR-2022-863-A and published in 2021 the essay Rettsstatens betydning [On the meaning of the Rule of Law].