6 March 2025
On 6 March 2025, the Public Lecture titled “Unity in Diversity and Equality of the States in the Process of EU Integration” was held in person at the ASEM University of Economic Studies in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The event featured Professor Tudorel Toader from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași, former judge of the Constitutional Court of Romania, as the keynote speaker. The discussion panel included the Rector of ASEM dr. hab. Professor Alexandru Stratan, Associate Professor Veaceslav Zaporojan from ASEM, former judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova, and Professor Igor Dolea from the State University of the Republic of Moldova, also a former judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova.
The Public Lecture was a dissemination event led by Professor Tudorel Toader and Professor Marieta Safta, organized as part of the research group “Equality in an Ever-Integrating Europe” coordinated by Prof. Marcin Wielec within the framework of the Central European Professors’ Network, managed by the Central European Academy.
The conference began at 14:00 AM with a formal welcome to the participants of the Rector of ASEM, Professor Alexandru Stratan, who officially opened the event, emphasizing the educational cooperation between Romania and Republic of Moldova and the importance of the CEA Project and the topic from the perspective of accesion of Republic of Moldova to the European Union (EU).
Associate Professor Veaceslav Zaporojan welcomed the participants and the organization of this event, emphasizing its European dimension and the need for the Republic of Moldova to follow Romania’s path as a member of the EU. In his address, as a professor of constitutional law and former judge of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Veaceslav Zaporojan addressed the history and significance of the path followed by the Republic of Moldova towards accession to the EU and the current challenges in this regard. He presented the process of preparing for the accession, highlighting important moments (28 November 1994 – signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA); February 2005 – Moldova – European Union Action Plan, developed within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy and adopted at the Moldova – European Union Cooperation Council; 7 May 2009 – Eastern Partnership (EaP), an EU initiative to strengthen and deepen EU cooperation with six partner countries from Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus). One of the most important moments is the Association Agreement between the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community and the Republic of Moldova, from 27 June 2014. The next stage of the accession process developed following the submission of the application for EU membership on 3 March 2022, which is currently at a significant stage, following the decision of the European Council of 23 June 2022 to grant the Republic of Moldova the status of candidate state for EU membership, on the basis of which on 23 December 2023 the EU leadership decided to open negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the EU. The latest procedures, however, as a result of the war launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, have caused a publicistic, moral and political “hybrid war” in the Republic of Moldova, without loss of human life and health, but with significant intellectual and political influences by promoting “myths about the integration of the Republic of Moldova into the European Union”. These “myths” are often spread by public figures and media outlets that are politically aligned with anti-European sentiments. Some of the most common misconceptions include: local producers will go bankrupt due to their inability to compete with European producers; Moldova will lose its traditional markets for products, specifically in the CIS and Russia; Europeans will purchase all the land in Moldova; EU accession implies integration into NATO; the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals will be imposed on Moldovan society; migration to and from Moldova will result in a demographic shift, leaving the country without Moldovans and replacing them with foreigners; national traditions, especially religious ones, will be replaced by foreign values. These myths need thorough analysis, both practical and scientific. In this complex context, it is especially important for the Republic of Moldova to follow Romania’s path toward European Union integration while respecting equality and diversity.
Professor Igor Dolea also emphasized the significance of the process undertaken by the Republic of Moldova and its prospects, appreciating both the organization of the event and the project in which it is taking place.
Professor Tudorel Toader began the lecture by noting that Romania revised its Constitution in 2003 in preparation for EU accession, and the Republic of Moldova is set to do the same 20 years later, in 2024. He pointed out that these two decades have brought significant changes to Romania’s normative and judicial systems to facilitate integration into the EU and to harmonize the standards for protecting fundamental rights, particularly in terms of freedom of movement.
Next, Professor Toader introduced the Project and Research Group titled “Equality in an Ever-Integrating Europe” part of the Central European Academy (CEA) – Central European Professors’ Network. He explained that the goal of the research group is to investigate whether closer cooperation among the Member States of the European Union can be achieved while respecting their equality. The Preamble to the EU Treaty emphasizes the commitment of the Member States to continue building an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe, where decisions are made as closely as possible to citizens in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
Regarding the coherence and continuity of research activities within the CEA, he mentioned that the current project builds on the approach of previous initiatives focused on constitutional identity and the future of the EU. He highlighted the importance of EU values as a common denominator for Member States, while also allowing for the preservation of each state’s constitutional identity. In this context, he referenced a decision issued by the Constitutional Court of Moldova regarding the language of the Republic of Moldova, emaphasizing that language serves as a key element of national identity. While we share common elements as part of the greater European family, we also maintain the unique identity elements that characterize each Member State. This is why the Constitution of Romania establishes, in Article 152, the limits of constitutional revision to safeguard these identity elements.
Next, Professor Tudorel Toader detailed the project’s topic, highlighting previous initiatives focused on constitutional identity and coexistence within the EU. He informed participants about CEA publications and where to find them. He then presented the studies conducted by the Romanian team involved in the project, outlining the objectives of a chapter in the upcoming collective volume. This chapter will examine the evolution of the concept of sovereignty within the European Union (EU) and emphasize the balance between national autonomy and European integration. The constitutional aspects of sovereignty within the EU will be explored, referencing the principle of conferral of powers and the relationship between national and supranational governance. The chapter will also analyze the EU’s development as an autonomous legal order, focusing on areas such as the protection of fundamental rights and criminal law, which are traditionally associated with national sovereignty. Additionally, it will consider how various crises—such as those related to the rule of law—and contemporary challenges like cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, underscore the need for supranational solutions. Finally, the chapter will investigate whether the strengthening of supranational authority undermines state sovereignty or contributes to a more coherent and resilient Union.
In this context, the speaker referred to the concept of national sovereignty in the EU, the evolution and limitations of sovereignty, the relationship between national and supranational governance, the distribution of powers in the EU, the principles of attribution of powers, subsidiarity and proportionality. Each of these sub-themes was developed with reference to the Romanian constitutional framework, in which the mechanisms of connection to the EU legal order provided for by the Constitution of Romania were described, namely Article 11 on international law, Article 20 on international treaties in the field of human rights and Article 148 on integration into the European Union. A comparative law perspective was also approached under this aspect, with reference to the mechanisms existing in other constitutions of the member states, with the conclusion that sovereignty remains a fundamental principle of the MS, as their own DNA, and most constitutions address the limits of sovereignty, reflecting its dynamics in today’s complex international relations. The concept of shared sovereignty was presented as well as various theories used to describe sovereignty relations within the EU and the legal order that arises from it (e.g. the theory of constitutional pluralism, the theory of multi-level constitutionalism).
A substantial part of the lecture was dedicated to the protection of fundamental rights in the EU, in order to capture the dynamics of the principle of equality at the intersection of European catalogues of fundamental rights. With reference to unity and diversity in the EU, it was stated that differences in national laws and societal norms can affect the way fundamental rights are understood and implemented, in particular in areas such as gender equality, religious expression and migrants’ rights. From this perspective, the President of the the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) was quoted as stating that “According to Article 52(4) of the Charter, ‘[i]n so far as [the latter] recognises fundamental rights as they result from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, those rights shall be interpreted in harmony with those traditions’.” By referring to the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, the Charter does not seek to define the fundamental rights recognised therein in accordance with the “lowest common denominator” of the Member States’ constitutions, but to interpret the fundamental rights enshrined therein in a way which offers a high level of protection; which is adapted to the nature of EU law; and which is in harmony with national constitutional traditions.”
In order to highlight the importance of the dialogue of the constitutional courts with the CJEU and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), detailed reference was made to the recent jurisprudence of the CCR regarding the representation of both sexes on candidate lists (DECISION No 341 of 9 July 2024 regarding the exception of unconstitutionality of the provisions of Article 7 (1) final sentence of Law No 115/2015 for the election of local public administration authorities, amending Law on Local Public Administration No 215/2001, amending and supplementing Law No 393/2004 on the Statute of Local Elected Officials, published in the Official Gazette no. 1112 of 7 November 2024), illustrative by the reference in the motivation to the international normative and jurisprudential framework.
Professor Tudorel Toader concluded the lecture by addressing the topic of European criminal law and the significance of its evolution in terms of an increasingly close integration of the EU Member States.
At the end of the lecture, the debates were opened for the participants – students and professors of ASEM. One of the questions in this framework, raised by one of the participants, referred to the complex dialogue between the CCR, the ECtHR, and the CJEU, on the one hand, and the dialogue between the CCR and the courts of law on the other hand.
The discussions put in the light the significance of the integration and membership of the EU, the challenges in order to preserve equality and diversity within the EU and the importance of collaboration in the light of common past and shared traditions and values of Romania and Republic of Moldova. The conference concluded with the expression of gratitude to all participants.
The event was widely advertised thanks to announcements posted on the following websites:
University Academy of Economic Studies of Republic of Moldova (ASEM)
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