During its recent trip, the Foundation held four roundtables and two workshops for participants involved in constitution-making
Building upon previous technical legal and research support provided to the Constitutional Convention in Chile, the Max Planck Foundation convened several activities aimed at advancing the work of the Chilean Constitutional Convention.
On 6 April 2022, the Foundation hosted a roundtable discussion on the topic of “Harmonisation and Transitory Norms” for members of the Constitutional Convention. Ninety-two participants including members of various thematic commissions and staff of the technical secretariat attended the discussion. During the roundtable, participants discussed comparative examples of harmonisation and drafting best practices, as well as practical proposals for the implementation of these considering the composition, timetable and mandate of the Chilean Harmonisation Commission.
The Foundation convened three further roundtable discussions during its trip to Chile. First, 20 members of the Constitutional Convention’s Political System Commission met to discuss the comparative design of political systems, including the balance of power between the President and Parliament. Second, 25 members of the Convention’s Justice System Commission were brought together to consider the implication of norms agreed upon about the structure of the judicial system, and the impact that constitutional jurisprudence might have on these. Finally, 50 participants (mostly members of the Commission on the Form of the State) met to discuss topics such as state-building and decentralisation.
On 5 April 2022, the Foundation held a workshop for members of the Technical Secretariat of the Constitutional Convention. Twelve individuals participated in this practical discussion of the more technical aspects inherent in the harmonisation of a draft constitutional text.
Finally, on 7 April 2022, a technical capacity building workshop was held for 25 journalists accredited to the Constitutional Convention. This workshop focused on the legal implications of norms agreed upon by the Convention and addressed questions relating to the constitutional process and comparative examples of constitution-making.
The Foundation will continue supporting the work of the Constitutional Convention with legal research papers and different activities, always approaching these tasks from a politically neutral and comparative perspective.
