1. Introduction. – 2. Theoretical aspects of understanding constitutional national identity. – 3. The doctrine of constitutional identity in the decisions of constitutional courts of European states. – 4. Guaranteeing constitutional national identity in the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. – 5. Conclusions.
Background: The article analyses the doctrine of constitutional identity in the context of both European and Ukrainian constitutionalism. It argues that constitutional identity is a relatively new category of constitutional theory, reflecting the fundamental and immutable values enshrined in the Constitution and serving to protect these values from external influences, particularly from supranational legal systems. Special attention is given to how this doctrine has developed in the jurisprudence of European constitutional courts (Germany, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Italy, France) and how it is being shaped in Ukraine in response to contemporary challenges, including the Russian Federation’s military aggression and the need to safeguard the state language, sovereignty, and national unity.
Method: The study employs systemic-structural and comparative-legal methods to analyse the doctrine of constitutional identity, its constituent elements, and the legal positions of constitutional courts in different countries. The logical-legal method made it possible to trace the evolution of approaches to the relationship between constitutional identity, national sovereignty, and integration processes in Europe. The research is based on the analysis of constitutional texts, judicial practice, and scholarly sources.
Results and Conclusions: Constitutional identity is understood as a set of fundamental constitutional principles (sovereignty, human rights, rule of law, democratic form of government, state language) that constitute the “core” of the Constitution and cannot be altered, even by constitutional reforms. The practice of European constitutional courts (primarily the German Federal Constitutional Court) laid the foundation for the doctrine of constitutional identity as a tool for limiting the influence of supranational law on the fundamental bases of national constitutional systems. In Ukraine, this doctrine has been shaped through the prism of protecting the state language, national sovereignty, and societal consolidation, as reflected in the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of 2018 and 2021, as well as legislative changes adopted between 2014 and 2025.