European, Comparative & Transnational Research Hub Seminar - The Court’s New Constitutionalism

LSE has a long tradition as the home of the world’s leading scholars in the areas of European, Comparative and Transnational Law. Our key interests lie in critically examining the interaction between different jurisdictions, with special attention to the social, economic and political implications of transnational regulation. Our expertise includes EU law, ECHR law, environmental law, private international law, transnational law and comparative law.

On Tuesday 17 November 2026, Sacha Garben (College of Europe) will present on the following topic: The Court’s New Constitutionalism.

We are currently living a fundamental refoundation of the EU legal order, largely at the hands of the Court of Justice. Over the past decade, the Lenaerts Court has sought to develop a coherent ‘constitutional’ vision of European Union, formulating and asserting a constitutional ‘identity’ couched in values. With EU constitutionalism having previously been accused of vacuity, the ‘turn to values’ allows the Court to fill the void with virtuous substance. Enforcement of absolute primacy becomes not a naked power claim but a defence of the Rule of Law. Rejection of national constitutional identity becomes not uniformist integrationism, but a defence of democracy, citizenship, pluralism and human rights.

Against the background of the book 'The Competence Question in the (Con)Federal European Union’, this talk will reflect on how to understand this judicial refoundation of European integration. It will be posited that presently are witnessing the Court’s closing gambit in the constitutionalisation process; an attempt to complete the transition that was initiated in the foundational years but that got side-tracked with Maastricht’s confederal reformation, the failed constitutional moment of the rejected Constitutional Treaty, and the post-Lisbon crisis years. The gambit is risky, however, and even if it would work, there are important (democratic) shortcomings to contend with.

This seminar is open to the public and will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

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