Presentations

Right to Environment in the Czech Republic: Courts Finally Turning Green?
presented at the international worskhop of the Incubator Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies with the cooperation of the Institute of State and Law, Czech Academy of Sciences, on May 20, 2016
Abstract: The author comments on the recent development in the right to environment in the Czech courts. After many years of an almost non-application of the constitutional provision that “Everyone has a right to a favourable environment”, the change came in the case-law of the Czech Constitutional Court in 2014. For the first time, an environmental NGO was accepted as having legal standing in a constitutional complaint regarding the right to environment. Moreover, in this ground-breaking decision, the Constitutional Justices commented on the role of environmental NGOs in a democratic society as highly positive. Regarding the right to environment, the decision emphasized that it would not be correct to deny the environmental NGOs the chance to defend the environment. It stressed that these NGOs are created by individuals to protect their own right to a favourable environment and that they should have relevant legal instruments to do this job, including claiming material breaches of laws, not only procedural errors. This progressive approach has been followed a few time in other courts since then.
Presentation

 
Principle of subsidiarity in the environmental jurisprudence of the ECtHR: mixing the 'margin of appreciation' with 'fair balance' to get the right potion for the European environment?
presented at the workshop "Subsidiarity and Its Discontents held by the Center for Law and Public Affairs at the Institute of State and Law AS CR on December 18, 2013
Abstract: In the ECHR´s environmental case-law, the margin-of-appreciation doctrine seems to be the most noticeable manifestation of the subsidiarity principle. The Court has joined the idea of a wide margin of appreciation of national authorities in the area of making and enforcing national environmental policies since  the early 1990s and since then its environmental jurisprudence has been remaining on the statement that State parties may enjoy a wide margin of appreciation in assessing what their environmental policy should look like, on the condition that they succeed in striking a fair balance between the interest of the collectivity and the effective enjoyment of the individual´s rights guaranteed in the Convention. As the collectivities´ interests are often of an economic character, applying the principles mentioned may lead to collisions and questionable decisions.
Presentation

"The Right to a Favourable Environment in the Czech Constitution and its Application"
presented in the Centre for Law & Cosmopolitan Values, University of Antwerp, November 27, 2013
Abstract: Incorporating the human right to a favourable environment in the Czech constitutional Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms dates back to 1993. However, this right remains very rarely applied, due to several legislative and interpretative reasons. In her contribution, Hana Müllerová will introduce the cornerstone cases before the Czech Constitutional Court that helped to establish the current judicial interpretation of the right but that at the same time led to entombing its practical enforcement. She will reflect the merit of human rights related directly to environmental quality as such and the preconditions that seem to be crucial in order to have this human right representing the so called third generation of human rights a living part of the human rights legislation.