Abuse of constitutional identity : the Hungarian constitutional court on interpretation of article E) (2) of the fundamental law

Abstract

This paper discusses a decision of the Hungarian Constitutional Court issued in December 2016, in which the judges refer to the country's constitutional identity to justify the government's refusal to apply the EU'S refugee relocation scheme in Hungary. The paper concludes that this abuse of constitutional identity for merely nationalistic political purposes discredits every genuine and legitimate reference to national constitutional identity claims, and strengthens calls for an end to constitutional pluralism in the EU altogether.