Uveljavljanje evropskih standardov v praksi slovenskega ustavnega sodišča

Résumé Sl En

Avtor v prvem delu obravnava genezo ustavnih sprememb, sprejetih zaradi vstopa Slovenije v Evropsko unijo (t. i. evropski člen). Ko kritično ocenjuje te ustavne spremembe, ki temeljijo na abstraktnem (zavrnjeni so bili predlogi, da se v ustavi izrecno omeni vstopanje v Evropsko unijo) in restriktivnem pristopu, ugotavlja, da so vendarle omogočile z ustavnopravnega vidika korektno vključevanje Slovenije v Evropsko unijo. Po avtorjevem mnenju imata največji pomen dve sprejeti spremembi. Prva ugotavlja, da se pravo mednarodnih organizacij v Sloveniji uporablja »v skladu s pravno ureditvijo teh organizacij«, kar omogoča neposredno uporabo in primat prava Evropske unije. Druga govori o motivih vključevanja Slovenije v mednarodne organizacije (spoštovanje človekovih pravic, demokracije in načel pravne države) ter po oceni ustavnopravnih strokovnjakov omogoča ustavnemu sodišču, da bi v izjemnih primerih lahko posredovalo, če bi bile te vrednote s pravom Evropske unije kakor koli ogrožene. Ob tem ugotavlja, da je Evropska unija v zadnjem obdobju, še posebej s sprejemom Listine temeljnih pravic v Evropski uniji v letu 2000 in ob sprejemanju Ustave za Evropo, veliko investirala v razvoj in varstvo človekovih pravic. Avtor v drugem delu svojega referata obravnava tiste izkušnje dosedanjega, več kot štiridesetletnega delovanja Ustavnega sodišča Republike Slovenije, ki so pomembne z vidika novih zahtevnih nalog, ki ga čakajo po vstopu Slovenije v Evropsko unijo. Pri tem posveča največ pozornosti tistim odločitvami ustavnega sodišča, ki se kakor koli ukvarjajo z judikaturo tujih sodišč, na primer nemškega zveznega ustavnega sodišča in Vrhovnega sodišča ZDA, ter z Evropsko konvencijo človekovih pravic in judikaturo Evropskega sodišča za človekove pravice. Ustavno sodišče se je doslej na EKČP sklicevalo v več kot 300 odločitvah, v približno 80 primerih pa se je v obrazložitvi svojih odločitev sklicevalo na judikaturo ESČP. Analiza teh primerov kaže, da se v njih ustavno sodišče ni omejevalo na zelo maloštevilne odločbe ESČP, v katerih je bila Slovenija tožena stranka. Poseben pomen ima sklicevanje na EKČP in judikaturo ESČP v primerih, kadar je raven varstva nekaterih človekovih pravic v Ustavi Republike Slovenije nižja kot v EKČP. Avtor kritično obravnava prakso slovenskih sodišč glede sojenja v razumnem roku. V sklepnem delu daje avtor predlog za spremembo ustave, ki bi ukinila pristojnost ustavnega sodišča, da presoja ustavnost podzakonskih aktov, zaradi česar se pred ustavnim sodiščem znajdejo spori, ki so v drugih državah Evropske unije šele komaj na ravni nižjih sodišč rednega sodstva, in pobudo za oblikovanje posebnega sporazuma o medsebojnem informiranju in sodelovanju ustavnih sodišč, kadar obravnavajo zadeve, povezane s pravom Evropske unije.

In the first part the author discusses the genesis of the constitutional amendments adopted due to the integration of Slovenia into the European Union (colectively referred to as the European article). As the author critically evaluates these constitutional amendments, which are based on an abstract (the proposals to explicitly mention integration into the European Union in the Constitution were not accepted) and restrictive approach, he concludes that they correctly enabled from the constitutional viewpoint the integration of Slovenia into the European Union. In the author’s opinion, two of the adopted amendments have the greatest significance. The first establishes that the legal acts and dicisions of international organizations shall be applied in Slovenia: “in accordance with the legal regulation of these organizations,” which enables the direct application and primacy of EU law. The second refers to the motives for the integration of Slovenia into international organizations (respect for human rights, democracy and the principles of the rule of law), and according to the evaluation of the constitutional legal experts, it enables the Constitutional Court to interfere in individual exceptional cases if these values were in any manner endangered by EU law. With reference to this, the author establishes that the European Union has recently, particularly by adopting the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in 2000 and by adopting the Constitution for Europe, invested a great deal in the development and the protection of human rights. In the second part of the paper the author discusses the more than fortyyears of experience of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, which is important from the viewpoint of the new demanding tasks which await the Court following integration into the European Union. Thereby the author devotes most of his attention to the decisions of the Constitutional Court which refer to the case-law of foreign courts, e.g. the German Federal Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of the USA, and the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. The Constitutional Court has so far referred to the European Convention on Human Rights in more than 300 decisions, and in approximately 80 cases it has referred in the reasonings to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. An analyses of these cases shows that the Constitutional Court did not restrict itself to the very few decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in which Slovenia was a defendant. Of particular importance are references to the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in cases in which the level of the protection of individual human rights is lower in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia than in the European Convention on Human Rights. The author critically discusses the case-law of Slovenian courts regarding adjudication within a reasonable time. In the closing part the author proposes an amendment to the Constitution which would revoke the competence of the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of executive regulations which can cause disputes to be reviewed before the Constitutional Court which are in other states of the European Union considered only at the level of lower courts. Finally, the author proposes initiating a petition to draft a special agreement on mutual informing and co-operation of the constitutional courts in cases in which they review cases which refer to EU law.