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Yesterday morning, a colloquium was held at the Constitutional Court, which was jointly organised by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court on the occasion of the visit of the delegation of the Court of Justice of the EU.

Representatives of the Czech top-level courts opened the colloquium. In her introductory remarks, Kateřina Ronovská, Vice President of the Constitutional Court, emphasised the importance of continued and sincere communication between the European and national levels, which considerably contributes to strengthening mutual trust and understanding. She also recalled the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic's accession to the EU. Petr Angyalossy, President of the Supreme Court, stressed the significance of preliminary ruling procedures, through which the Czech courts have long been involved in the creation of the EU legal area. Karel Šimka, President of the Supreme Administrative Court, used examples from the history of Central Europe to show how essential it is to maintain a balance between the unity of the whole and the individuality of its parts. The common denominator of the introductory speeches was the emphasis on the importance of open multilateral and multi-level dialogue for the protection and strengthening of the rule of law, human rights and freedoms. President of the Court of Justice of the EU Koen Lenaerts, who visited the Czech Republic together with nine of his colleagues, highlighted the same values in his speech. He mentioned, among other things, that the cooperation with the Czech courts, and not only the top ones, is at a very good level. In his words, the Czech courts are a solid part of the European judicial dialogue, through which they participate in the resolution of legal issues affecting all EU Member States. The Czech courts have submitted a total of 47 preliminary questions between 2019 and 2023.

The second part of the programme was a roundtable with Zdeněk Kühn, Justice of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Simon, Judge of the Supreme Court, Michal Bobek, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, and Sacha Prechal, Judge of the Court of Justice of the EU. The role of moderator was assumed by Martin Smolek, Agent for the Czech Republic before the Court of Justice of the EU. The central theme of the roundtable was European fundamental rights and values in the decision making of national courts and national fundamental rights and values in the decision making of the Court of Justice. The speakers discussed the relationship between national identity and EU values, their intersection, overlap and cases of possible conflicts, as well as more generally the possibilities and limitations of the enforcement of values by judicial institutions.

The closing remarks were delivered by the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court Vojtěch Šimíček, the Vice-President of the Supreme Administrative Court Barbara Pořízková, the Vice-President of the Supreme Court Petr Šuk and the Judge of the Court of Justice of the EU Eugene Regan. Together they expressed their conviction that the colloquium would contribute to the further development of mutual cooperation and European legal dialogue.

Colloquium of judges held on the occasion of the visit of the delegation of the Court of Justice of the EU to Brno