Congress hosted by the Federal Constitutional Court for the Presidents of the Constitutional Courts of Europe

Press Release No. 45/2023 of 08 May 2023

On 4 and 5 May 2023 in Berlin, the Federal Constitutional Court hosted a congress for the Presidents of the Constitutional Courts of Europe. The congress addressed the subject of climate change as a challenge for constitutional law and constitutional courts.

Prior to the working sessions, Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director and Chief Economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, gave a presentation about the economic and ecological foundations of climate action. 

The first working session dealt with the subject of recourse to constitutional courts in climate litigation cases. Here, keynote speeches were delivered by the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Prof. Dr. Koen Lenaerts, the Vice-President of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, Dr. François Chaix, and The Right Hon Lord Hamblen of Kersey, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 

In a second working session, the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Austria, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Verena Madner, the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, Prof. Dr. Matej Accetto, and the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Snježana Bagić, addressed questions of constitutional responsibility. 

The final working session focused on the potential of constitutional courts in tackling climate change. It opened with keynote speeches by the President of the Constitutional Council of the French Republic, Mr Laurent Fabius, the President of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, Prof. Dr. Dineke de Groot, and the President of the Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic, Prof. Silvana Sciarra. 

To mark the occasion, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, hosted an evening reception for all the congress participants, while the Federal Minister of Justice, Dr. Marco Buschmann, offered welcoming remarks at the beginning of the congress.

Source: © Bundesverfassungsgericht │bundesfoto│Kurc