Anneli Albi Professor of European Law, University of Kent

1. Hearing at the European Parliament Constitutional Affairs Committee7 March 2019, BrusselsTHE THREE MAIN CONSTITUTIONAL CULTURES IN EUROPE: TOWARDS UNIFORMISATION OR RETAINING DIVERSITY? Anneli Albi Professor of European Law, University of Kent

2. European Research Council (ERC) funded 5/6-year project ‘The Role and Future of National Constitutions in European and Global Governance’ • Albi A. and Bardutzky S. (eds), National Constitutions in European and Global Governance: Democracy, Rights, the Rule of Law. National Reports. Volumes I and II (T.M.C. Asser Press & Springer) • Two volumes with 29 national reports (EU Member States and Switzerland) • Reports written by leading scholars of constitutional law • Forthcoming Open Access in April 2019, https://www.springer.com/us/book/9789462652729 • Albi A. National Constitutions in European and Global Governance: Democracy, Rights, the Rule of Law. A Comparative Study (T.M.C. Asser Press & Springer) • Linked comparative monograph, identifying broader trends, changes and challenges • Forthcoming in summer 2019

3. Three main types of constitutional cultures in Europe • Political/historical constitutional cultures • UK, Malta, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, the constitutions of the Nordic countries Denmark, Sweden and Finland; Switzerland • Post-totalitarian/post-authoritarian constitutional cultures • Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Central and Eastern European EU Member States (including Poland pre-2016, Hungary pre-2010) • Traditional or hybrid legal constitutions • France, Belgium, Ireland (more flexible) • Austria, Cyprus (similar to the above post-totalitarian approach) (Source: Albi A. and Bardutzky, S. ‘Revisiting the Role and Future of National Constitutions in European and Global Governance: Introduction to the Research Project’, in Albi A. and Bardutzky S. (eds.), National Constitutions in European and Global Governance: Democracy, Rights, the Rule of Law. National Reports. Volumes I and II (T.M.C. Asser Press & Springer, forthcoming 2019))

4. From comparative to autonomous EU law? Prof. Anne LiseKjaer: ‘[W]hat will happen to the mutually divergent national languages and cultures of law when independency and autonomy of a common European law are presumed by an increasing number of European lawyers; when they … involve themselves in an increasingly self-referential European legal discourse with lawyers from other European countries; and when communicating about law and speaking the law are no longer conducted in divergent national legal languages, but in a Europeanized legal language with no reference to the domestic laws of the Member States.’ (Source: A. Kjaer, ‘Theoretical Aspects of Legal Translation in the EU: The Paradoxical Relationship between Language, Translation and the Autonomy of EU Law’, in S Sarcevic (ed), Language and Culture in EU Law. Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Ashgate 2015) 91), emphases added, see also below Albi, Vienna J Int Const Law 2015, Part 2)

5. Comparative overview of fundamental/constitutional rights and aspects of rule of law under strain in the context of EU law A. Albi, ‘Erosion of Constitutional Rights in EU Law: A Call for ‘Substantive Co-operative Constitutionalism’’ • Part 1. (2015) 9(2) Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law 151-185. • Comparative overview of cases from different Member States where fundamental/constitutional rights and rule of law guarantees have come under strain; includes a number of dissenting opinions of national judges • Part 2 (2015) 9(3) Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law 291-343 • Transition from national and comparative constitutional law to autonomous EU constitutional law, including changes in law and legal thinking • Epistemological observations about EU and transnational constitutional discourse; the missing themes • Both parts are available open access in SSRN: http://ssrn.com/author=1246144

6. ‘Substantive co-operative constitutionalism’ • The diversity of national constitutional cultures ought to be retained (subject to the ECHR standards for fundamental rights and the rule of law); • Constitutional achievements and the standards of protection of rights and rule of law principles as established by constitutional courts ought to be upheld; • Constitutional courts and national parliaments ought to retain a meaningful role; • See practical suggestions by the project’s constitutional law experts on how to develop a more meaningful role for national constitutions in EU decision-making procedures *** • Source:A. Albi, ‘Erosion of Constitutional Rights in EU Law: A Call for ‘Substantive Co-operative Constitutionalism’’ Part 2 (2015) 9(3) Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law 291-343 • See also ERC project website https://research.kent.ac.uk/roc/