The Practice of the Constitutional Court of Romania Concerning Migration and Refugee Affairs

Abstract

This study analyses the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Romania regarding the legal norms of legislation concerning the status and regime of refugees in Romania. The paper aims at (1) presenting the opinions expressed by the Constitutional Court of Romania in its jurisprudence regarding migration and asylum; (2) assessing whether the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Romania on migration and asylum is drawn up about the limits of the competences of the European Union and member states; and (3) exploring whether the Constitutional Court of Romania linked the problems of migration or asylum to the problem of constitutional identity. The concept of constitutional identity and its presence within the activities of the Romanian Constitutional Court are briefly outlined. The number of notifications to the Constitutional Court of Romania with the object of derogation from the unconstitutionality of certain provisions of the legislation concerning the status and regime of refugees in Romania was minimal from 22 December 1989 to 30 June 2023. Consequently, only a few laws exist in this area. There was only one referral to the Constitutional Court after Romania joined the European Union, which was completed in 2019 with the adoption of the admission decision.