14 September 2026
Breaking Non-Retroactivity
Is a politically appointed court still a court? The old dilemma of kelsenian constitutional courts could not be more topical in the case of the Romanian Constitutional Court, which recently issued a decision that shattered a constitutional principle underlying every democratic system: the principle of non-retroactivity. The political influence is probable in this case; such an infringement of an ancient principle of law by a court at this level cannot be otherwise explained. Constitutional justice was not blind but was driven by political interest and used as a tool of political vendetta. Continue reading >>
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03 September 2026
Nobody Called Karlsruhe Captured
On 24 August 2026, Manfred Weber and Valérie Hayer wrote to Ursula von der Leyen asking the Commission to make the disbursement of Romania’s final tranche of €770 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility conditional on the fate of a national statute. The letter arrived a week after the Romanian Constitutional Court had ruled on that statute in Decision 883 of 17 August 2026. The letter is right that something is wrong with Decision 883. However, the letter mischaracterises a contested and badly reasoned judgment as the output of a captured institution. Continue reading >>
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