Sull’obbligo degli Stati membri di rispettare i principi democratici dell’Unione europea in fase ascendente a partire da una rilettura del Lissabon Urteil

Abstract

On the Member States’ Obligation to Respect EU Democratic Principles in the Upstream Phase from a Re-reading of the Lissabon Urteil

This paper poses the question of whether respect for the founding values of the Union, and particularly its democratic principles, can go as far as to require Member States to provide mechanisms which can ensure respect for these principles during domestic decision-making processes that lead to the State’s position in the Council and the European Council. In this regard, particular attention is paid to the Italian upstream phase. The paper shows that, in a multilevel governance structure in which national and EU democracy must complement each other, ensuring the democratic character of domestic decision-making processes constitutes a Member State’s obligation under primary law which the EU should require observance in accordance with its own democratic principles. This thesis originates from a re-reading of the Lisbon judgement by a reverse perspective to the one adopted by the German Federal Constitutional Court, which is believed to have focused on a state-centred model of democracy and the latent assumption of the EU’s democratic legitimacy deficit.