On 13 May 2026, Ms Marta Cartabia, President of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, participated online in the conference entitled “Constitutional Justice and Democracy”, organised by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil on the margins of the 16th Meeting of the Ibero-American Conference on Constitutional Justice.

During her intervention, Ms Cartabia addressed the topics of judicial independence and constitutional remedies. She underlined that “States which have introduced systems of constitutional review have entered what may be described as the family of constitutional democracies, which is now the common model in Europe and beyond. For this reason, the independence of constitutional jurisdictions is not a secondary question for our countries. It is vital for the proper functioning of any democratic system.”

Ms Cartabia also referred to the phenomenon of democratic backsliding, stressing that “the very existence of constitutional justice is not usually openly challenged. Nor is the presence of judicial guardians of the Constitution openly called into question. What is most at risk is the independence of constitutional courts and supreme courts exercising constitutional review.”

The President of the Venice Commission further highlighted the role of constitutional review as a safeguard against arbitrary power and recalled the importance of the Venice Commission’s Updated Rule of Law Checklist.

In concluding her speech, Ms Cartabia emphasised the crucial role of networking in the field of constitutional justice. She noted that “Most people ignore what courts have done for workers, mothers, sick people, people with disabilities, elderly and retired people, children, prisoners… Here some creativity is required to develop new instruments for an appropriate dissemination of the ‘decisions that matter’ in the real social and personal lives of people.”