Folia Theologica 9. (1998)
Józef Krukowski: The Issues of the Negotiations of Concordats
30 J. KRUKOWSKI concordat promotes religious Freedom of all churches, and does not discriminate against anybody. On the other hand, one should reject the principle of “primitive egalitarianism” which means the same treatment of all churches and denominational associations, no matter what differences between them are. Accepting this principle means identical treatment of all churches, regardless of their differences, therefore, it means reducing the rights of all churches to one of them and, what is more, to the worst of them. 5. Concordat and Other Sources of Law It must be realised at the stage of negotiations what is the place of concordat in the hierarchy of the sources of positive law. The legal system of the present state is built in a hierarchical way. The highest place in this hierarchy is taken by the constitution, then there are the ratified international agreements and the lowest place is occupied by statutes. Concordat, like any other international agreement, is placed between the constitution and statutes. It follows from this fact that concordat can not correct constitution. That is why the norms which are contradictory to the binding constitution may not be entered in the concordat. In this case, the possible concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Slovakia should not contain any norms which would be contradictory to Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovakia from 1992. On the other hand, it can include such norms which are not found in the statutes as well as those which are contradictory to them, in order to make the legal system more perfect. Concordat becomes a binding law by way of transformation into statues. If there is a contradiction between concordat and a statute then a legislative norm becomes abrogated. Can the other hand, the state organs are obliged to use the concordat norm in practice, if it can be used directly, or to amend the statute in order to adjust it to the concordat. 6. The Socio-Political Climate It is already at the stage of pre-negotiations that attempts should be made to create a socio-political climate which would favour effective negotiations, that is settlement of an agreement, signing it and ratification.
