The Concept of sustainability in national Constitutions: insights from constitutional jurisprudence

• MRU CRIS: knygos tekstas

ENChallenges in contemporary societies are also related to the element of sustainability. The content of sustainability and sustainable development which, compared with the rule of law, human rights, and democracy, are treated as relatively new constitutional key concepts (Jakab 2021), still attract attention in various constitutional debates from different legal perspectives – for example, concerning the sustainability of democracy, human rights, and environmental sustainability (the International Conference “Sustainability as a Constitutional Value: Future Challenges” took place on 15-16 September 2022 in Riga). The debates affirm that these concepts of sustainability and sustainable development as broad notions of the rule of law, human rights, and democracy encompass a bouquet of interrelated aspects. This chapter aims to shed light on the complex concept of sustainability and its aspects from the perspectives of national constitutional regulation and constitutional jurisprudence, formed by constitutional justice institutions. Such perspectives in the scientific literature are rarer than perspectives from the points of view of the international or European Union levels (Kozień 2021). This is understandable because, in the legal framework, sustainable development as a concept was first used and elaborated upon in international law, and this concept has generally been treated as a matter of soft law by international instruments (Boyar 2021). As constitutions also interact with the broader environment of ideas and institutions outside a nation’s borders (Ginsburg et al. 2019), this interaction also means exchanging experiences among different countries while seeking the best solutions in their practice.The author of this chapter tries to confirm the assumption that national constitutions, including the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, and constitutional justice institutions, including the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, which protect constitutional values, could be seen as strong protectors of such a constitutional value as sustainability. The analysis of national constitutions and the jurisprudence of constitutional justice institutions is of much relevance for achieving the aim of this chapter. According to most constitutions, constitutional courts around the world, while implementing their power of constitutional review, are also bodies with the authority to interpret constitutions (Ginsburg & Elkins 2008), including the interpretation of constitutional provisions reflecting the concept of sustainability. The author of this research focuses not only on a comprehensive case study – the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania – but also on examples from the selected case law of other constitutional justice institutions from Europe, and compares it with Lithuanian constitutional experience. These constitutions and the constitutional jurisprudence based on them are a source of national and international constitutional law, and they could be borrowed as an inspiration for solving future constitutional justice cases. Lithuanian constitutional law lacks scientific papers or research dedicated to the issue of sustainability. Professor Juozas Žilys, the first president of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, treats the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania of 1992 as the solid democratic foundation for further development of the statehood of Lithuania, which constitutes a long-term program aimed at the progress of society and the state, striving for an open, just and harmonious civil society and a state under the rule of law (Žilys 2012).Thus, from Professor Žilys’ point of view, the sustainability of the Constitution means its stability, durability, and future endurance. Moreover, in this context, Professor Žilys also noted that the stability of the Constitution relates to the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution, as the sustainability of the constitutional regulation is one of the most important constitutional values (Žilys 2017). The mentioned aspects of constitutional stability and endurance are crucial for the sustainability of the national constitution; however, there are also other separate yet interrelated aspects of sustainability enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania which could be elaborated in more detail. A further reason for this detailed elaboration is the abstract meaning of the word sustainable in the Dictionary of the Current Lithuanian Language (n.d.): the meaning of this word is related not only to durable and strong, but also to striking a balance (according to this dictionary, the word sustainable in Lithuanian means "patvarus", "tvirtas", "tvarioji pusiausvyra"). Thus, one might ask what constitutional values are hiding under the constitutional umbrella of sustainability? As Professor Juozas Žilys also abstractly hints at, in implementing constitutional reforms in Europe as well as in Lithuania, sustainable constitutional values which matured in people’s enduring fight for democracy and freedom were followed (Žilys 2017). [Extract, p. 45-46]