Online exchange of experiences on constitutional issues concerning the Coronavirus pandemic

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Published: May 26, 2020

On 25 May 2020, constitutional court judges from Montenegro discussed various constitutional issues in connection with the Coronavirus pandemic with IRZ expert Professor Dr. Udo Steiner, a former judge at the German Federal Constitutional Court.

During the online event, Professor Steiner presented a selection of cases from the German Federal Constitutional Court, in particular on the subjects of

• freedom of movement,
• religious meetings,
• right to protest and
• right to pursue an occupation or business activity.

Professor Steiner talked about the decisions already made by administrative courts and by the German Federal Constitutional Court in connection with the Coronavirus pandemic. He stipulated that most of these decisions had been incorporated in interim legal protection measures and had largely verified the relevant measures taken by the government to contain the pandemic. Professor Steiner went on to say that it was, however, essential for the justifications behind the decisions to be checked regularly. The principle of proportionality plays a central role here.

The Acting President of the Constitutional Court, Desanka Lopičić, thanked the IRZ for the exchange of thoughts and experiences, which was organised at short notice, and for providing translations of relevant decisions made by the German Federal Constitutional Court. Together with her colleagues, she presented some cases from the Constitutional Court of Montenegro in connection with state measures to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Desanka Lopičić explained that, unlike other countries in the region, Montenegro had not imposed a state of emergency but had introduced various individual measures to restrict the spread of the virus and that some of these measures have currently been presented to the Constitutional Court for review.

During this exchange of experiences, it was agreed that the IRZ would promptly provide the Constitutional Court of Montenegro with further translations of current decisions made by the German Federal Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court of Montenegro is one of the few constitutional courts in South-East Europe, which not only uses the case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court as a point of reference, but also regularly quotes its decisions.