On 16 June 2022, the President of the Romanian Constitutional Court, Mr Marian Enache, received the visit of Prof. dr.h.c. Armin von Bogdandy, Co-Director of the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany..
The meeting was also attended by Ms Livia-Doina Stanciu, Mr Varga Attila, Ms Elena-Simina Tăssescu, Mr Gheorghe Stan, Mr Dimitrie-Bogdan Licu, judges of the Constitutional Court, Mr Benke Károly, first assistant magistrate, Ms Senia-Mihaela Costinescu, assistant magistrate-in-chief, other assistant magistrates of the Romanian Constitutional Court, Mr Bogdan Iancu, and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Bucharest.
Opening the meeting, the President of the Constitutional Court expressed his congratulations on the award of the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Bucharest to the distinguished guest, and pointed out that this meeting, with the topic Human Dignity – concept and reality, takes place in the context of the 30th anniversary of the Romanian Constitutional Court.
After a brief presentation of the powers of the Constitutional Court, Mr Marian Enache emphasised that the foundation and source of all fundamental rights and freedoms is human dignity. Its value content is developed through case-law by the Constitutional Court, and in this context he also mentioned the judicial dialogue between the Romanian Constitutional Court and other constitutional courts, in particular the German and French courts. In this context, it referred to the recitals of the Romanian Constitutional Court Decisions Nos 464/2019, 465/2019 and 233/2021.
Mr Armin von Bogdandy presented the significance of human dignity in the light of Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and the way in which it is valued in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and in the German constitutional system. The honourable guest also highlighted the common value of human dignity for all legal systems within the European Union and made clear the particular role of the constitutional courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union in developing this concept within the European society.
At the end of the meeting, both sides expressed their intention to continue and maintain an active dialogue.