The onset of the 2004 EU enlargement witnessed a number of predictions being made about the approaches, capacity and ability of Central European judges who were soon to join the Union. Optimistic voices, foreshadowing the deep transformative power that Europe was bound to exercise with respect to the judicial mentality and practice in the new Member States, were intertwined with gloomy pictures of post-Communist limited formalism and mechanical jurisprudence that could not be reformed, which were likely to undermine the very foundations of mutual trust and recognition the judicial system of the Union is built upon.
Ten years later, this volume revisits these predictions and critically assesses the evolution of Central European judicial mentality, institutions and constitutionality under the influence of the EU membership. Comparatively evaluating the situation in a number of Central European Member States in their socio-legal contexts, notably Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, the volume offers unique insights into the process of (non) Europeanisation of national legal systems and cultures.
Prologue: The Westernisation of the East and the Easternisation of the West Hans-W Micklitz 1. Introduction: Revisiting the Transformative Power of Europe Michal Bobek Part I: Judicial Reasoning 2. Formalism in Judicial Reasoning: Is Central and Eastern Europe a Special Case? Péter Cserne 3. EU Law and Central European Judges: Administrative Judiciaries in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland Ten Years after Accession Marcin Matczak, Mátyás Bencze and Zdenek Kühn 4. The Impact of EU Membership on Private Law Adjudication in Poland: A Case Study of the Polish Supreme Court’s Case Law on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Rafal Manko 5. The Aversion to Judicial Discretion in Civil Procedure in Post-Communist Countries: Can the Influence of EU Law Change it? Aleš Galic 6. The Remains of the Authoritarian Mentality within the Slovene Judiciary Jan Zobec and Jernej Letnar Cernic 7. From a Discourse on ‘Communist Legacy’ Towards Capacity Building to Better Manage the Rule of Law Boštjan Zalar Part II: Institutions and Procedures 8. ‘Euro-products’ and Institutional Reform in Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Study in Judicial Councils Michal Bobek and David Kosar 9. The Impossibility of Being a National and a European Judge at the Same Time: Doctrinal Rifts Between Hungarian and EU Administrative Law Marton Varju and András György Kovács 10. Changes in the Level of the National Judicial Protection Under the EU Influence on the Example of the Polish Legal System Nina Póltorak 11. When David Teaches EU Law to Goliath: A Generational Upheaval in the Making Alexander Kornezov 12. Who are the Actors Mobilising Discourse among Courts? Erhard Blankenburg 13. Transformation in the Eye of the Beholder Matej Avbelj Part III: Constitutional Courts 14. Invalidity of EU Law before the Polish Constitutional Tribunal: Court of Old Closure(s) or New Opening(s)? Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz 15. Constitutional Sovereignty in Post-Sovereign Jurisprudence of the Czech Constitutional Court: From the Lisbon Judgments to the Landtová Ultra Vires Controversy Jirí Pribán 16. ‘Keeping the Faith’ : The Trials and Tribulations of the Hungarian Constitutional Court in Following its European Vocation Allan F Tatham 17. Central and Eastern European Constitutional Courts Facing New Challenges: Ten Years of Experience Marek Safjan 18. Conclusions: Of Form and Substance in Central European Judicial Transitions Michal Bobek
Michal Bobek is Professor of European Law, College of Europe, Bruges, and research fellow, Institute of European and Comparative Law, University of Oxford Faculty of Law.
Reviews for Central European Judges Under the European Influence: The Transformative Power of the EU Revisited
Have the judges and judicial authorities of countries that joined European Union during and after Big Ben of 2004 been able to cope with European law? And is European law being correctly applied in these countries? (...) has the 'Westernisation of the new Member State' been properly carried out, leading to the emergence of new democracies and free markets? It is to these questions that the twenty-two legal experts brought together to these dense pages, most of them from the 'new Europe', provide enlightening answers. -- Michel Theys * Agence Europe *
