Mr. László Trócsányi: The gentle touch of identity on the face of integration (ABSz, 2020. Különszám, 16-19. o.)

Honorable Presidents, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Guests,

I was fascinated by the lecture of Mr. President Voßkuhle and his characterization of the order of values in Europe as the elixir of life, nurturing and growing our community. We do indeed have common values, based on which we should grow together. Being a professor of constitutional law, I am convinced that any debate about these very popular common values serves the greater good. However, any such debate should be depoliticized and re-professionalized. Only this can nourish the legal links between the Member States and the EU.

This is the reason why I always try establishing good relations with those organizations that examine the legal links between states, such as the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, that in its name struggles for Democracy Through Law. Their most recent opinion to be handed down on the subject on the new administrative court system in Hungary I think will be a good example of the professional debate mentioned above and of what we are desperately in need of these days.

However, I am not here today to feed these debates. After thoughts of nurture and nourishment in the introduction, now I would like to move on to talk about how the Member States and the EU might interact - in other words: how gentle touches of identity might shape the face of our European integration. I chose this topic for my keynote address as it is identity that can either give life to integration, revive it if necessary, and it is also what holds it together in times of crises.

Identity is all about communication. When I got the invitation to speak at this conference and I looked at the date on the invitation, I instantly knew that I needed to address the obvious. On the International Day of Women, we should stop and really appreciate how mutual respect and communication can contribute to the evolution of our identities as individuals and as communities.

When I was young, before the regime change, this day had a very negative ideological meaning in Hungary. I know that we needed time to strip the International Day of Women from these bad connotations that were originally alien to us. We also needed time to really acknowledge the role women play in society. However, in Central and Eastern Europe, this is not the only holiday at which we needed to learn to look differently. Communism has attached bitter memories to many of the internationally recognized holidays. Now, it is especially because of these historically very different circumstances that we need to do everything we can to better understand each other. To try and recognize as well as accept differences and specificities that bring us closer and might hold us together. This is our unity in diversity. In addition, these are all those common and particular values that make up our identity: our EUdentity - as the title of the conference suggests.

Using the allegory of a woman's touch, I wish to illustrate how gentle but firm touches of identity shape our European integration, just as women shape us in our daily lives, making us stronger, and making us whole as part of a family. As men and women walk hand in hand, mutually respecting each other, so do identity and integration. However, as in any relationship, there might be periods when a crisis unfolds. These are those times when holding hands has the potential to turn into temporary rivalry just as well as it may become a very passionate love story.

On that note, I should recall that many called Brexit the end of a European love story (or love affair),[1] and our recent past has demonstrated many times that crises of faith and value do have the potential to influence the outcome of any European love story. Financial and migratory pressures push certain societies and integrations to the brink, where - at the point of no return - certain values and beliefs are brought into question both on the national and the international level. We do not have to think that far back in the history of our integration if we want to look for crises based on differences of opinions between Member States and EU institutions on how the EU should work. The politics of empty chairs stands out as a first example, while others can be tied to the failure of the Constitutional Treaty, to the different expectations and models of austerity meas-

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ures and the financial crisis, and most recently, to the handling of the migration crisis.

It is only natural and human that in these periods we question some of our choices and even our relationships while taking refuge in our back stories: our identities. I should remind you, however, that questioning a relationship or a choice will only make it stronger. This is because in doing so, everyone sets out on a path to discover ways of repairing it. Of course, we all have our different paths (after all, we are united in diversity), but I am convinced that no other European love story will end as Brexit might.

The most important in these cases is that at the end of the love story no injuries shall remain, and the key to this - the elixir of life, if you will - is mutual respect and constant communication - as in any everyday relationship. Now what is the goal of Europe and the European Union as our relationship? How is EUdentity defined in this respect?

I think that the eventual goal is to increase the role and power of Europe and the EU on the global scale, allowing for it to be taken more and more seriously in economic, financial as well as political and legal terms. We can only achieve success and progress in these fields through paying attention to one another instead of getting scared of the gentle but firm touches of the Member States and their identities on the bruised face of European integration.

Paying attention to one another, however, also requires a chance to become equal parties to any disputes in this relationship. Equal opportunities or chances to be heard are also very important in current European debates.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One such current debate is whether old and new democracies are different. From a Central and Eastern European point of view, being equal - in a democratic context - means not knowing the difference between old and new. Hellenic democracy is the most ancient in my eyes. In comparison, we are all new democracies.

As the International Day of Women / gave the à propos for my speech - in the following - I will focus on the most current debates in this regard.

The notions of family, marriage, spouse, civil partnership, equality of women and men in many areas such as employment, public affairs, work-life balance could be mentioned here. Obviously, Member States and European institutions might have concurrent interpretations and motivations regarding the above, within their respective remit or competence. At first glance, the jurisprudence of the CJEU regarding women, marriage and families provides us with a lot of examples on EU approaches. Equality between men and women, especially in the context of employment and social security has been at the core of CJEU jurisprudence for decades. Integration has gently formed the face of national legal systems during this time.