The Europeanisation of the Italian Constitutional Court

Abstract

In this article the most recent developments of the Italian Constitutional Court are analysed. The Court, for the first time, referred unambiguously to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The author argues that this is a fundamental departure from previous practice which, though slowly developing towards a more cooperative stance, was never truly European. After outlining the essential characteristics of the receptivity of the Italian legal system towards EC law, the relationship between Italian law and EC law is set out; with special emphasis on the classical ‘counter‐limits’ policy and the way this is reflected in the decisions of the Constitutional Court. This provides the backdrop for an analysis of the new developments — the Constitutional Court's judgement 135/2002 — and leads us to rethink the role of the Constitutional Court for the future.