Full membership of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union as a constitutional value

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teismo jurisprudencijoje suformuota Lietuvos Respublikos visateisės narystės Europos Sąjungoje kaip konstitucinės vertybės koncepcija. Ji sietina su konstitucijos kaip atitinkamų vertybių sistemą įtvirtinančio ir ginančio akto samprata su konstitucinės teisės daugiamatiškumo pripažinimu. Lietuvos Respublikos visateisė narystė Europos Sąjungoje yra platesnio Lietuvos Respublikos geopolitinės orientacijos principo, siejamo su pagrindinėmis konstitucinėmis vertybėmis, sudėtinė dalis. Konstitucinės vertybės statuso pripažinimas suponuoja tokių klausimų kaip šios sąvokos turinio ir reikšmės, jos santykio su kitomis konstitucinėmis vertybėmis nagrinėjimą. Kartu tai susiję ir su konstitucijos aksiologinio aiškinimo bei visateisės Lietuvos Respublikos narystės ES kaip konstitucinio geopolitinės orientacijos principo, kuris konstitucinėje jurisprudencijoje iškyla kaip konstitucinio tapatumo elementas aiškinimo problemų aptarimu. Straipsnio tikslas – apžvelgus Lietuvos Respublikos visateisės narystės ES kaip konstitucinės vertybės pripažinimo klausimus (nuo jurisprudencinio jos įtvirtinimo iki sąsajos su konstituciniu tapatumu) pabandyti išaiškinti, kokia vieta šiai vertybei tenka konstitucinių vertybių sistemoje ir kokius teisinius padarinius sukelia toks konstatavimas.The article analyses the legal significance of the application of the concept of the full membership of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union as a constitutional value in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. This idea is only acceptable in the context of the concept of a Constitution as an act establishing and protecting a specific system of values. It also reflects the openness of Lithuania’s constitutional law to international law and European integration. The full membership of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union is treated by the Lithuanian Constitutional Court as an element of the principle of the geopolitical orientation of the Lithuanian state, which is closely interrelated with the fundamental constitutional values (state independence, democracy and republic, etc.). Therefore, it is in the so-called “constitutional core”, between the fundamental constitutional principles and values on which the constitutional system is based. This is one of the peculiarities of our constitutional system. Recognition of the status of a constitutional value presupposes the problems for Constitutional Court in appreciating the content and significance of this value and its relationship with other constitutional values. The balancing of the full membership of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union as a constitutional value with other constitutional values is at the centre of constitutional interpretation. Moreover, it also relates to the problems of the axiological interpretation of the Constitution. The full membership of the Republic of Lithuania as a value is one of the elements of the constitutional principle of geopolitical orientation, which arises in constitutional jurisprudence as an element of constitutional identity. One of the aspects of the use of the concept of constitutional identity is the opposition of constitutional and European identity (constitutional identity is understood in this case as an instrument of self-defence against excessive integration). The Lithuanian constitutional concept, which declares that the full membership of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union is a constitutional value and an element of constitutional identity, means that in the analysis of the legal problems of the interaction of the national and European Union legal systems, we must not simply view relations as “our own” and “foreign”, but the interaction between “our own” and “our own from a wider perspective”. This concept means that the constitutional identity cannot only be treated as an instrument for protecting the national system, but also as a measure for the well-founded establishment of balance between the national and EU legal systems