On Tuesday afternoon, the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr Pavel Rychetský, met with the Dutch Ambassador to the Czech Republic. His Excellency Mr Daan Feddo Huisinga was appointed Netherlands’ Ambassador to the Czech Republic in December 2020. On 17 August 2021, he presented his credentials to the President of the Republic. This was therefore his first ever visit to the Constitutional Court. 

In the first part of the meeting, Mr Pavel Rychetský, President of the Constitutional Court, briefly introduced the Czech constitutional judiciary. He spoke about the competences and functions of the Constitutional Court and about its role in the legal and political system of the country. The President then highlighted the close and cooperative relations between the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. Although the two countries have different approaches to the concept of constitutional review, the exchange of views and knowledge had always been very fruitful. This applies both to bilateral cooperation as well as to multilateral cooperation within the Conference of the European Constitutional Courts (CECC), of which both institutions are full members. In the second part of the meeting, the principles of justice, democracy and the rule of law in current Europe were discussed. At the end of the visit, the seat of the Constitutional Court was shown to His Excellency.

Pavel Dvořák
Head of External Relations and Protocol Department