Abstract

The paper discusses the role of the Italian Constitutional Court in the context of EU economic governance. It firstly stresses the criticalities inherent in EU economic governance and, in particular, its corroding impact on national democratic constitutions. Then, it identifies the implications of EU economic governance on the jurisdiction of national constitutional courts. Against this background the case-law of the Italian Constitutional Court is examined by identifying deference, resistance and correction as the main patterns of constitutional adjudication in this area. The article claims that, by mainly following deference and correction as adjudicative criteria, the case-law of the Italian Constitutional Court is coherent with the notion of 'sustainable austerity' currently predominant in EU economic and social policies.