Nordicum-Mediterraneum (Mar 2016)
Europe’s Constitutional Law in Times of Crisis: A Human Rights Perspective
Abstract
In this paper, we aim to survey representative constitutional amendments in the European Union’s area, whether attempted or accomplished, as well as significant adjudications by constitutional bodies, since the outset of the ongoing international economic crisis, 2008-2015. We assess these legal phenomena in light of human rights jurisprudence. Pivotal reference in our work is the recently released 7th volume of the Annuaire international des droits de l’homme, edited by G. Katrougalos, M. Figueiredo and P. Pararas under the aegis of the International Association of Constitutional Law. Have European constitutions continued to function qua civil commons in the crisis years? That, at the deepest level of value scrutiny, is the question that our joint survey and analysis aim to answer.
