Paper Titles & Abstracts

International courts participate in the interplay with politics. Their decisions sometimes have vital political impact on European political affairs (see e.g. decisions of CJEU concerning the accession of the EC to the ECHR or the ECtHR pilot judgments) and simultaneously they are influenced by politics (see e.g. ECtHR decisions in the Lautsi case). It is interesting to analyse this interplay and the elements which fuel the judicial activism and judicial restraint of European courts. For instance, some scholars claim that relative weakness of political bodies of international organisations contributes towards the increased judicial activism. Some others say that the absence of the non liquet on the part of international courts leaves the issues of substantive jurisdiction open to more extensive interpretation and thus allows for extending the political role of international courts. The paper shall concentrate on:analysis of the interplay between European courts and European political bodies,definition of factors enhancing the political role of European courts,political consequences of judicial decisions in the European legal environment,political elements in the judicial decisions,influence of politics on judicial decisions. Obviously, the paper shall pay particular attention to the practice of the ECtHR and CJEU, but it will also analyse decisions of other international courts in Europe and the practice of domestic constitutional courts having particular political dimension.