Altneuland: The European Constitutional Terrain It is in many respects a New Land - for the first time the Union is openly, officially using the word Constitution in its formal self-understanding. But this, in turn, places it, at least lexically, in the age old terrain of constitutionalism which...

Abstract: On June 30, 2009, the German Constitutional Court declared the Lisbon Treaty to be compatible with the German constitution. The Lisbon decision marked the end of an intense constitutional battle. The following text illustrates how different views on and different understandings of...

Abstract: As the distinction between interpretation and politics diminishes, the need for pluralism in interpretation increases. The Article argues, first, that the rule of law requires that no one tribunal possess the power to subordinate a whole legal system to its politicized rule. The...

Abstract: The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) is understood as an important new "instrument" in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) "toolbox", designed to respond to the contemporary security environment as well as to overcome the inaction and hesitancy of the past....

Abstract: The transformation of family law, presently spreading  throughout the entire land of Europe with different stages of development, questions the law discipline in a multifaceted way. The scope of this paper is to approach this delicate issue from the point of view of the competences...

Abstract: In cases 102-103/2008 for the first time the Italian Constitutional Court has referred a question to the Court of Justice under the article 234 EC procedure. The article analyses this decision in light of previous contrary case law and argues that, insofar as supremacy will be...

Abstract: This article is about the state of social rights in the European Union, in comparison with their protection at national level. The first part aims to define the term of social citizenship as it is understood in European legal culture. The second part examines the recent evolution of...

Abstract: This article examines the response of Europe’s courts – and in particular of the EU’s Court of Justice (ECJ) - to the dramatic challenges recently brought before them against the UN Security Council’s anti-terrorist sanctions regime.  The ECJ in Kadi annulled the EC’s...

This paper is divided into three parts. The first part is focused on the analytical assessment of the meaning of value choices, regulatory autonomy and identity in the EU, which is characterized by the complex constitutional relationship between the Member States and supranational polity. I have...