RICERCA ITALIANA     

National Institutions and European Constitution.
Comparative analysis of the Member States' institutions in the European constitutional framework: operative potentials, adequacy problems and reciprocal adaptation.

Università Commerciale "Luigi Bocconi" - Milano

Abstract

This project has the aim of addressing the problems (and related solutions) encountered in the 25 member states following the approval of the European Constitutional treaty. This will be done with specific reference to the constitutional articulation, structures and procedures provided for in the Treaty. This will be done in a comparative perspective. This is the aim of the project therefore each research unit will have specific topics to deal with which are related to the more important institution of the European Union and functions of the constitutional importance. The topics have been chosen, on one hand, by evaluating the Constitutional Treaty and the problems that emerge in terms of domestic law especially with regard to the integration between national and community institutions and, on the other hand, by addressing the problems and prospects that have emerged since the adoption of the European Constitution.
1. The research unit from the University of Teramo will examine the role of the national Parliament of the 25 member states of the European Union in the light of the Constitutional Treaty and the annexed protocols. In particular the unit will examine: the reinforcement of information channels to the national parliament without the intervention of the respective governments; inter-parliamentary cooperation and involvement of national parliament in the European legislative procedures.
2. Still in the context of the European Constitutional Treaty, the Pavia research unit will analyze the role of sub-national entities especially those that have legislative powers. It is common knowledge that the European Constitutional Treaty – though not changing the position of the regional entities within the Union - will introduce a procedure that will develop the role of the regions not in the context of the institutions but in the context of policy-making (and not only). In this framework the unit will examine the new mechanisms and safe guards that ensure the participation of the regions (especially regional legislators) in the bottom-up European decision making procedures as provided for in the European Constitutional Treaty and related protocols.
3. The Milanese research unit will examine the judiciary in relation to the European Union. The unit will not only address the differences and interconnections in terms of competencies and modus operandi but most of all it will look at the role national judges are assuming in the new community context. More precisely the Milano Bocconi research unit will examine the relationship between national judges and European judges. This topic will be addressed in terms of integration of procedures, parameters, interpretation and application of European law, protection of rights and balancing of principles at the various levels of the European Union. <<<

Principal Investigator

Giuseppe Franco FERRARI Università Commerciale "Luigi Bocconi" MILANO

Research Objectives

The research intends to analyze and systematically compare problems and perspectives within EU Member States with regard to the relationship between constitutional structures and the ones foreseen by the Treaty. The analysis will follow two directions, considering on one side the political and institutional role the former are called to play in the latter; on the other side procedural and organizational solutions which can be find in each system. To this aim, the choice falls on a "transversal" method, to be conducted (not by country, but) by large subject areas, identifying the main institutions and functions with a constitutional relevance (according to a parallelism between classical state's articulations and new EU ones). Such a method finds its confirmation in the choices made by the European Convention and the intergovernmental Conference. At the foundations, there are the same language and technicality, which allow a better scientific confrontation and a productive elaboration of solutions. Nevertheless, it is evident that diversities among national institutional structures make it difficult to create a perfect "joint" with the corresponding European structures and procedures. Considering and comparing the national profiles who are interested in the said "joint", the research wants to define the most realistic perspective to study such a complicated European order.
In details, subject lines have been found, on one side, through the areas where indications about constitutional projects and integration issues are best defined; on the other side, through consideration of processes already started towards this direction. Therefore, subject lines have been identified as follows:
a) Forms and logics used by national parliamentary assemblies to implement the functions assigned to them by the Constitutional Treaty, also with regard to the nature and structure of those assemblies (e.g. bicameral and unicameral systems, plus differences among similar systems);
b) Relationships between European functions and procedures on one side, and political and institutional roles belonging to the different national and local structures on the other side; the matter is complicated by new models of administration and regulation, but also, at the territorial level, by different structure within each state;
c) Relationship between petitions, with regard to different modus operandi and competencies, but also with regard to "sliding" roles, due to the new European order: for example, new distribution of roles among ordinary judges, Constitutional courts and European judges with regard to protection of rights, also due to the expansion of EU parameters and the closer link with the ECJ. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

The process of "constitutionalization" of the European Union represents without any doubt the most relevant event in contemporary history. It also represents the most interesting subject for human sciences researchers and jurists in particular, especially within public law, considering the clear and profound questions which arise at the cognitive and practical level, as well as at the theoretical one.
Recently, it has provoked within the relative scientific-disciplinary fields a very lively flourishing of research initiatives and debates (sector studies, miscellaneous volumes, conferences): maybe late, due to a certain general skepticism until a few months ago, but currently very popular and clearly growing, thanks to the final approval of the project for a "Treaty which adopts a Constitution for Europe". However, even though the Italian juridical science has reacted with a special activism, the comparative dimension has been less extensively explored (with reference to the systematic study of orientations, potentials and problems within member states). Whereas, due to the "integrationist" perspective in the creation of a European constitutional order, such a study-method seems to go beyond the usual process of acquiring critical and practical knowledge, through a comparison of experiences and solutions from different legal systems. In our case, indeed, such experiences and solutions are not only going to be compared with each other, but also to converge into an "integrated" framework. This will have a double effect: on one side, it causes a circulation of models and questions which are likely to create interesting practical and theoretical perspectives; on the other side, it questions the meaning, the adaptation and the credibility of European institutional solutions, where the aforementioned integration should take place. Within this framework, on one hand the comparison changes its traditional horizontal structure into a more complex "pyramidal" structure, assuming the task to consider a system where the various points at the base, characterized by specific diversities, have to converge into the peak, while the latter itself has to adapt to them; on the other hand, the comparative method, thanks to its rich tradition, stands more chances for a change in methodology and orientation. Consequently, research finds its basis in the traditional comparative method, within which some participants have already developed specific analysis on perspectives of dialogue between current European institutions and the foreseen EU structures. <<<