Polish-Hungarian Scientific Forum (International Law)

On 15 January 2026 researchers from various European countries gathered online to discuss issues related to the relations between national and international law as well as challenges arising from membership in the European Union. The conference served as a pivotal platform for fruitful discussions, exchange of knowledge, and a critical analysis of pressing issues within the said realm. While adopting a comparative constitutional perspective, this conference critically and comparatively engaged with international and European Union law as instruments serving to shape, constraint, and in some instances, disrupt state sovereignty.

Against this background of increasing globalisation and the deepening integration of law, the conference explored the growing tension between the autonomy of national constitutional regimes and the influence of a framework of supranational legal standards. The overarching objective of this conference was to create an interdisciplinary forum in which scholars could explore whether international and EU laws are in fact working mainly as frameworks for cooperation, tools of constraint, or means of intervention – and what this means for the future of the European state-centred legal order and for the world.

Attendees were treated to a diverse array of presentations, each offering unique insights and perspectives on pertinent matters. From international law and EU law as instruments of interference in the state system, relations between national top courts and international courts, to the regulation of international and EU law in the constitutions of selected European countries, the topics covered multiple issues that European countries are currently facing.

The conference was moderated by Dr. Katarzyna Zombory, Research Director of the CEA, Dr. Enikő Krajnyák, Senior Researcher at the CAE and Prof. Dr. Paweł Sobczyk, Associate Professor, University of Opole. The discussion was opened by Prof. Dr. Marcin Wielec, Associate Professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University and Prof. Dr. János Ede Szilágyi, Strategy Director at the CEA, who presented the current programmes developed by the CEA.

The subsequent presentations offered an insightful analysis of various relevant topics concerning the current challenges posed by the changing role of international law and increasing interference of the EU with its Member States domestic orders. It included presentations delivered by experts such as Prof. Mariusz Muszyński, Associate Professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, who outlined the research project “International Law and EU Law as Instruments of Interference in the State System”. It was indicated that the project, in the first place, focuses on explaining crucial terminology and categories, such as "international law", "EU law", "constitutional sovereignty", "systemic integration", and "collision of legal systems". It also embraces a normative analysis, which examines how EU and international norms enter constitutional orders of Poland and Hungary, and what position they occupy in the hierarchy of the universally binding sources of law. The project also identifies conflicts between constitutional order and EU or international law that directly impact judiciary, legislature, and executive operations, and presents an analysis of selected examples illustrating how international-law instruments are abused to interfere with the domestic orders of Poland and Hungary.

Prof. Muszyński outlined the backdrop for the project. Above all, he noted how the role of international law had changed throughout the centuries from that constituting merely a set of rules created by states to regulate specific issues to that serving as a permanent set of norms governing mutual state relations. Indeed, early agreements had the character of contracts, whilst abstract norms existed in international customs, i.e. the sphere of unwritten law. Yet, by the turn of the 20th century, agreements began to create norms of conduct, to codify customs and regulate new areas of cooperation. This shift occurred because the international stage has been transformed in an objective and unprecedented manner, and international law started to serve as an instrument for international actors to justify their actions or compel others to behave in a certain way, especially in political contexts. Then the rise of international courts was discussed. Namely, they are becoming increasingly crucial, as they not only settle disputes but also actively shape – or even develop – the international order through their jurisprudence. They also establish norms that they later apply in adjudication. And states accept this, even though it contradicts the classic, national understanding of the rule of law. These specificities have made it possible to abuse these developments by non-democratic political forces to carry out actions that undermine the rule of law. It is noteworthy that such actions may be taken against the fundamental interests of states, against their very existence. This is particularly dangerous when the government faces no internal resistance, and the state is instead governed by politicians who consent to such actions or even seek to exploit the situation to strengthen their own power.This tendency has recently been evident in Poland, where public authorities have undertaken actions that exceed the boundaries defined by the national constitutional order, or more broadly, by the legal system as a whole.

The following speeches covered a wide range of matters that have arisen in relation to those developments. Károly Benke, first assistant magistrate at the Constitutional Court of Romania, outlined the relations between the Romanian Constitutional Court and the ECtHR, which initially reflected the spirit of cooperation, then clashed with each other and then again managed to restore cooperation. Anna Faber-Wiercińska, PhD Student at Ferenc Deák School of Law of the University of Miskolc, discussed the legal basis for international law and EU law in the Polish Constitution, whereas Ivan Jokanovic, Senior Researcher at the CEA, explained the constitutional regulation of international and EU law in the Hungarian Constitution. In turn, Prof. Dr. Lilla Berkes, Associate Professor at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, focused on the complexity of the relationship between international and EU law as well as Hungarian law in the context of the sovereigntist approach. Dr. David Sehnálek, Vice-Dean and Associate Professor at Masaryk University, Czechia, attempted to find a legal solution for conflicts between constitutional courts and the CJEU, while Dr. Aleksandra Syryt, Associate Professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, analysed the regulation of international and EU law in the constitutions of selected European countries. Dr. Péter Kruzslicz, Assistant Professor at the University of Szeged, outlined the reception and effects of international law “à la française”. Prof. Dr. Benedetta Vimercati and Prof. Dr. Luigi Crema, Associate Professors at the University of Milan explained how international law is regulated in the Italian legal system, and finally Dr. Benedikt Riedl, Senior Researcher at the LMU in Munich clarified the conception of open statehood. The participants sought to identify solutions to problems arising from abusing external legal norms to reshape national constitutional orders, and specifically from international law and EU law serving as instruments of interference in the state system.

It was enriching to hear about diverse approaches e.g. to the principle of the primacy of EU law in different countries, dialogue and collaboration between national courts and international courts (ECtHR, CJEU), as well as solutions to collisions between domestic law and EU law.