Comparing the judicial application of the EU Charter of fundamental rights and of the Italian Constitutional provisions on fundamental rights, the article sketches a possible evolution of the EU legal system into a fully constitutional system. The jurisprudence shows that the recognition of social rights in the Charter may trigger such an evolution, even if the judicial enforceability of social provisions is limited by Article 52.5 of the Charter, as interpreted by the official Explanations. But the “social dimension” of the Charter and of the EU legal system in general has recently showed its limits, when the “conditional” financial assistance of Greece and Portugal has ignored the heavy social costs of austerity measures sponsored by the “troika”. According to the Pringle judgment, the Charter of fundamental rights is not applicable to treaties such as the European Stability Mechanism (and maybe to the Fiscal Compact too). The emerging paradox is that, besides the Commission rhetoric on the importance of the Charter in its daily practice, EU financial assistance conditionality seems to ignore social rights as fundamental rights.
Il ruolo dei diritti sociali (e dei giudici) nella 'costituzionalizzazione' dell'Unione europea
GUAZZAROTTI, Andrea
2014
Abstract
Comparing the judicial application of the EU Charter of fundamental rights and of the Italian Constitutional provisions on fundamental rights, the article sketches a possible evolution of the EU legal system into a fully constitutional system. The jurisprudence shows that the recognition of social rights in the Charter may trigger such an evolution, even if the judicial enforceability of social provisions is limited by Article 52.5 of the Charter, as interpreted by the official Explanations. But the “social dimension” of the Charter and of the EU legal system in general has recently showed its limits, when the “conditional” financial assistance of Greece and Portugal has ignored the heavy social costs of austerity measures sponsored by the “troika”. According to the Pringle judgment, the Charter of fundamental rights is not applicable to treaties such as the European Stability Mechanism (and maybe to the Fiscal Compact too). The emerging paradox is that, besides the Commission rhetoric on the importance of the Charter in its daily practice, EU financial assistance conditionality seems to ignore social rights as fundamental rights.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
