This book examines EU enlargement by studying how domestic constitutional evolution in the new member states contributes to European integration. In contrast to the usual top-down analytical pattern, it reverses the paradigm by looking at constitutional developments and dynamics from the bottom-up, studying how domestic constitutional evolution contributes to European integration. The authors analyze constitutional trends from the perspective of ‘new Member States’ as policy-makers and not strictly as policy-takers. The issue of conditionality is also explored in a discussion of the extent to which pre-2004 and 2007 conditionality has had lasting effects at the level of constitutionalization of different areas and norms and if so, of what kind. The exploration of Europeanization effects in recent Member States substantiates and demonstrates how enlargement has been an important driving-force for the effective export of EU legal rules in this region.

The book utilizes a comparative approach to highlight the merits and obstacles created by the growing diversity in the constitutional rules and patterns of the new Member States. It also contains a section that places the CEE constitutionalizing map in a broader comparative European and global context, establishing links with similar transitional regimes in the continent and elsewhere.

The book has been touted “a rare and thorough collection of comparative studies dedicated to the fascinating events at the turn of the century” by Evgeni Tanchev, Chief Justice of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court and Council of Europe Venice Commission Memberand has garnered praise for “its introduction of new voices and perspectives to issues arising from integration in Europe” (Law and Politics Book Review).
 
Table of Contents

List of Contributors
Foreword by Lech Garlicki
Acknowledgements

Prologue: Constitutional Transition in Central and Eastern Europe
Kyriaki Topidi and Alexander H.E. Morawa

Part I: Foundations and Methods of Constitutional Dialogue in CEE

Estonia as an EU Member State: Lack of Pro-active Constitutional Dialogue
Tanel Kerikmäe

The Constitutionalization of EU Law in Romanian Jurisprudence
Simina Tănăsescu

Fundamental Rights in the EU’s Post-enlargement Landscape: An Exercise in Constitutional Translation?
Kyriaki Topidi

Part II: The Role of Courts in the New Legal Order

Constitutional Pluralism and Judicial Cooperation in the EU after the Eastern Enlargements: A Case Study of the Czech and Slovak Courts
Tomáš Dumbrovský

The Constitutional versus the European Role of the Judiciary in Poland
Piotr Mikuli

Structural Inconveniencies of the Treaty of Lisbon in the Czech Republic
Jiri Zemanek

Kafka, Kelsen and Supremacy: How European Courts Could Interact with a Viewn to Fostering Constitutionalism
Alexander H.E. Morawa

Part III: The Rule of Law and Policy-Making in ECC after Enlargement

Raising the Standard? The Current Challenges in Human Rights Protection in Hungary
Bernadette Somody

Constitutionalization and the Media in Post-Enlargement Central and Eastern Europe
Katrin Nyman-Metcalf

The Rule of Law and the Rise of Populism: A Case Study of Post-Accession Bulgaria
Daniel Smilov

For futher informations please visit the website.