The Nation's Own Genius: A European View of Irish Constitutional Identity

The notion of constitutional identity has gained an unprecedented importance in the European Union. The similarities between the traditional Irish case law and recent national decisions referring to this notion, notably in France and in Germany, makes Ireland a particularly interesting context to enquire into a notion that remains elusive. In light of the Irish experience of membership, the notion of constitutional identity finds its raison d'etre in the sovereign will to participate in the process of European integration. Therefore, normative conflicts are dealt with as a conciliatory balance between sovereign expressions of equal value. The notion of constitutional identity results from the recognition of the ineluctable nature of the process of European integration. It is in relation with and in reaction to EU law that certain constitutional provisions gain an identity value. The European Union has become the otherness which is constitutive of any identity claims. The notion of constitutional identity thus departs from an essentialist understanding and corresponds to a specific interpretive practice designed to control the application of EU law. Constitutional identity is best understood as selfhood, ie as the ability for the Member States to define their own genius within the evolving process of European integration.