Pomembnost nacionalne identitete v pravu Evropske unije in možnost njene instrumentalizacije (The Relevance of National Identity in European Union Law and Its Potential for Instrumentalisation)

• Main Author: Marjan Kos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law 2019-12-01
• Series: Zbornik Znanstvenih Razprav
• Subjects: european union; national identity; constitutional identity; article 4(2) teu; human rights; proportionality; hungary; court of justice of the european union; coman; tarrico
• Online Access: http://www.pf.uni-lj.si/media/zzr2019_kos.pdf
• ISSN: 1854-3839

The aim of the paper is to present the concept of national identity and its role in con-stitutional disputes. Despite its ambiguity, based on national constitutional courts’ and the CJEU’s case law, at least a general framework concerning its substance and function in EU law can be established. It demonstrates that although the concept of national identity from Article 4(2) TEU may be prone to abuse, sufficient safeguards exist to prevent the instrumentalisation of the concept. Current attempts, particularly in the case of Hungary, to (ab)use the concept in order to evade EU law obligations are, therefore, highly unlikely to succeed before the CJEU.