Penetration of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union into the Constitutional Order of the Czech Republic – Basic Scenarios

Abstract

Summary This paper deals with the question, whether, how and to what extent the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU could enter the scene of constitutional review before the Czech Constitutional Court. In connection to Czech Republic, this question must react on the special constitutional category – Czech constitutional order, which includes also international agreements on human rights which are binding for the Czech Republic. The paper analyses the question, whether EU Charter can be understood as such international commitment or not and what are the options of its application by the Czech Constitutional Court and also how we can define its relation to the constitutional order. Paper distinguishes 3 scenarios: 1) inclusion of the EU Charter into the constitutional order of the Czech Republic; 2) refusal of formal inclusion of the EU Charter into the constitutional order of the Czech Republic; and 3) understanding of the EU Charter as association of constitutional order, capable to be used within the constitutional order even without the formal inclusion into the set of Czech constitutional rules.