National Constitutional Identity Ten Years on: State of Play and Future Perspectives

Abstract

This introductory article lays out the background of the inquiry proposed by the contributions of this special issue, while also presenting its main findings and adopting a forward-looking stance. To this end, it first briefly recalls what the origins of the identity clause are, before it discusses what meanings this clause could have. Subsequently, the main conclusions of the various articles are presented. The final part concludes by restating that national identity remains an undefined concept, which can only be defined on a case-by-case basis by means of dialogue between national and European courts. National identity – constitutional identity – constitutional courts – European Court of Justice – judicial dialogue