AS DECISÕES POLÍTICO-LEGISLATIVAS EM TEMPOS DE CRISE ECONÔMICA E A PROTEÇÃO DOS DIREITOS FUNDAMENTAIS PELO TRIBUNAL CONSTITUCIONAL: UMA ANÁLISE DA JURISPRUDÊNCIA EUROPEIA

Abstract

The economic-financial crisis that broke out in the early 21st century was not affected only to a limited extent - market issues in general. The decrease in economic activity (domestic and international) soon impacted the tax collection, and the sharp shortage of financial resources in the public coffers made it very difficult to comply with legal commitments that the State was bound. Moreover, the crisis have also impacted the law in a moment that was impossible to carry out the constitutional rules related to the social rights, and the analysis of the constitutionality of the austerity measures implemented by the legislator threatened the country's governance. Within this context, the role of the Constitutional Court as the controlling organ of the acts of the other powers gained even more importance, not only for the noble and fundamental task of restoring the supremacy of the Constitution, but especially because in doing so, in some cases, risk to the solvency and credibility of the State, which was rated by experts as a more painful measure to society than the very existence of an unconstitutional law. In this way, the Constitutional Courts in Europe dealt with many legislative acts that went backwards in terms of social rights, either by approving them or declaring them unconstitutional, and the purpose of this paper is to bring to Brazilian doctrine some of the decisions and positions of these courts in times of crisis.