Available in Russian
Authors: Oleg Belosludtsev, Sergey Bukhmin
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2025-2-141-162
Keywords: constitution; constitutional identity; national identity; identity control; constitutional court; historical constitution; material core of the constitution; implicit material core; sovereignty; ultra vires control
The article examines the peculiarities of the formation of the concept of constitutional identity in the countries of Visegrad Group and Russia. The thesis is substantiated that the genesis of identity in these countries was mainly related to external causes. The development of the doctrine was aimed at softening a consistent program of integration of the European Union legal space, stabilizing the political systems of the member states in the context of changing legal reality. In this regard, additional arguments were identified in favor of the priority of the national constitution and the rejection of the unconditional supremacy of EU law. The analysis of the factors that had a significant impact on the formation of doctrines of constitutional identity in the Visegrad Group countries is carried out. The article argues that, despite the differences in wording, the constitutional courts of the Visegrad Group countries apply similar approaches to defining and identifying constitutional identity. The uniqueness of the judicial doctrines of Poland and Hungary lies in the combination of national and constitutional identity, including intangible aspects related to national identity. Such a union of two identities is atypical for Western European countries (Germany and Italy). The definitions of constitutional identity in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia are more strict than in Hungary and Poland. A distinctive feature of the judicial doctrines of the reviewed countries is their protective orientation, emphasis on the supremacy of national constitutions and sovereignty, as well as a special approach to the content of sources of constitutional identity. The implementation of the “internal” function of constitutional identity is either poorly emphasized (Czech Republic and Slovakia) or completely absent (Poland, Hungary, Russia). In this regard, all the countries under consideration have significant potential for futher development of the doctrine. All these countries are united by a firm position on the recognition of the absolute primacy of national constitutions. Accordingly, the issuance of legal acts or the adoption of decisions that contradict the constitution is unacceptable. The transfer of sovereign powers to review and amend any provisions of the constitution is categorically excluded. In the absence of a cooperative dialogue between jurisdictions, these states are ready for dialogue only if their cultural and historical specifics and national identity are taken into account. The article also substantiates the conclusion that studying the experience of the Visegrad Group countries can be useful for Russia. It allows us to identify common features inherent in the constitutional identities of these states.
About the authors: Oleg Belosludtsev – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in Law, Associate Professor, Department of State and Administrative Law, Law Institute of Mordovia State University named after N.P.Ogaryov, Saransk, Russia; Sergey Bukhmin – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in Law, Senior Lecturer, Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Faculty of Law, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan, Russia .
Citation:
Belosludtsev O., Bukhmin S. (2025) Konstitutsionnaya identichnost' stran Vyshegradskoy gruppy i Rossii: sravnitel'no-pravovoe issledovanie [Constitutional identity of the Visegrad group countries and Russia: a comparative legal study]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.34, no.1, pp.141–162. (In Russian).
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