Conference “Constitutionalism and Supranationalism”

On 26 September 2013, in the Small Hall of Vilnius University, the department of Public Law of Vilnius University Faculty of Law hosted the annual conference called “Constitutionalism and Supranationalism” that was intended to discuss the questions of constitutional and supranational interaction of law. The event gathered famous Lithuanian law researchers and practitioners, judges of the Lithuanian courts, representatives of state institutions, university lecturers and students to investigate various national, international and European Union aspects of legal interaction: trends, current events, disagreements, issues and challenges of the development of these converging and competing legal systems.

A huge number of conference participants were greeted by Juozas Bernatonis, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania; Julius Sabatauskas, the Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Seimas; Tomas Davulis, the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Juozas Galginaitis, the Vice-Rector of Vilnius University. The first part of the conference was chaired and moderated by Prof. Dr. Egidijus Kūris, Head of the hosting department (VU FL Department of Public Law) and former Chief of the Constitutional Court of The Republic of Lithuania together with Prof. Dr. Stasys Stačiokas, former judge. The audience followed the presentations on the issues of application of international and European Union law and its impact on states’ constitutional doctrine and national law as well as interaction and development trends in the jurisprudence of international courts. The judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, namely, Prof. Dr. Dainius Žalimas (VU FL Head of International and European Union Law Institute); Prof. Dr. Egidijus Šileikis (VU FL Department of Public Law); Ramutė Ruškytė; the judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Skirgailė Žalimienė (VU FL Department of Public Law) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irmantas Jarukaitis (VU FL Department of Public Law); Prof. Dr. Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, Head of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University shared their insights and experience.

The second part of the conference was chaired and moderated by Prof. Dr. Dainius Žalimas, the judge at the Constitutional Court of The Republic of Lithuania and Prof. Dr. Vytautas Sinkevičius, former judge (Institute of Constitutional and Administrational Law of Mykolas Romeris University Faculty of Law). This part was aimed at narrower national, international and European Union law aspects of interaction occurring in separate areas and fields of law. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jurgita Paužaitė-Kulvinskienė (VU FL Department of Public Law) analysed the interaction between national identity and European integrity; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Edita Žiobienė (Institute of Constitutional and Administrational Law of Mykolas Romeris University Faculty of Law), the Ombudsman of the Rights of the Child Protection discussed the impact of the international norms of protection of the rights of child on the Lithuanian law; lawyer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lauras Butkevičius (VU FL Department of Public Law) spoke about the interaction between the European Union Competition Law and Lithuanian Competition Law in administrative practice and court jurisprudence; Dr. Rasa Svetikaitė (VU FL Department of Public Law), the Chief Advisor of President of the Republic of Lithuania presented the principle of responsible governing; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Indrė Žvaigždinienė (VU FL Department of Public Law) analysed the aspects of the fundamental rights to private life in the context of the environment protection; Dr. Indrė Isokaitė (VU FL Department of Public Law) discussed the impact of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the regime of the Lithuanian maritime space; and Dr. Martynas Vasiliauskas (VU FL Department of Public Law), the Senior Advisor of the Ombudsmen’s Office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania spoke about the model of the national Human Rights Institution.

The conference had a number of profound discussions aimed at relevant questions. The presentations and discussions were summarised by Prof. Dr. Statys Stačiokas and Prof. Dr. Egidijus Kūris who, since 2013, has been working in the European Court of Human Rights.