A multi-level legal order

The question of who decides in Europe has no single answer. Member States and the Union exercise different competences, while national and European courts shape the practical relationship among legal sources.

Sovereignty does not simply disappear; it is exercised within a system of conferral, limits and reciprocal safeguards.

The Italian constitutional basis

Articles 11 and 117 of the Italian Constitution are central to Italy’s openness to European integration. At EU level, the principle of conferral defines Union competences, together with subsidiarity and proportionality.

Integration therefore develops through interaction between legal orders rather than simple replacement of one by another.

Primacy and constitutional limits

The primacy of EU law ensures its effectiveness within the fields of Union competence. Italian constitutional doctrine has nevertheless developed the concept of counter-limits to protect supreme constitutional principles and inviolable rights.

The balance is produced through judicial dialogue rather than a simple linear hierarchy.

Courts and preliminary references

Article 267 TFEU enables national courts to seek rulings from the Court of Justice on interpretation and validity of EU law. The relationship between the Italian Constitutional Court and the CJEU, including the Taricco dialogue, illustrates this institutional interaction.

Rights protection also operates across the Italian Constitution, the EU Charter and the ECHR, which belongs to the distinct Council of Europe system.

Crises, identity and legitimacy

Economic, health, energy and geopolitical crises test the distribution of competences. Every expansion of common action raises questions of legal basis, democratic control and accountability.

The multi-level order is ultimately an architecture of power: it determines not only who may decide, but through which procedures, within which limits and under whose institutional control.