Republika Włoska i Republika Federalna Niemiec - dwa państwa założycielskie Wspólnot Europejskich na drodze integracji europejskiej

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the way of the Republic of Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany to the present phase of European integration. The paper is divided into two fundamental parts. In the fi rst part, the authors focused on a comparison of historical backgrounds of Italy and Germany including the second half of 19th century when the two states were about to shape their national identity by way of an unifi cation process under the auspices of Hohenzollern and Savoy dynasties. The factors of both unifi cations were relatively congruent: ambitions of dynasties, presence of clever politicians of Cavour’s or Bismarck’s caliber and fi nally, the necessity to conquer Austria. In Prussia’s case the aim was to defeat France as well. The second part of this article contains an analysis of selected structural and constitutional issues concerning the membership of Italy and Germany in the European Union. In this approach, of particular importance are constitutional grounds of states’ membership in the organization, predominant methods of transposition of the European Law into domestic legal systems as well as problems regarding the eff ectiveness of the EU-law in Italy and Germany. The article also refers to the Italian Constitutional Court and the Federal Constitutional Court and their role as factors, which have been of great relevance for the dynamic progress of states integration within the structures of the European Union. The authors underline that Italy and Germany, considering their legal and political positions in the EU, are not only states with similar historical experiences and problems resulting from these issues (the most important aspects are diff erences concerning the northern and the southern parts of Italy and eastern and western parts in Germany), but they also have comparable possibilities. However, the practice shows that Germany seems to take a better advantage of its political and economic opportunities.