The (Constitutional) Court of Justice of the European Union and the right of collective bargaining Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes, Part II

• Autore: Filip Dorssemont
• Pagine: 109-114

The (Constitutional) Court of Justice of the European

Union and the right of collective bargaining Timeo

Danaos et dona ferentes, Part II

F D

1. Constitutional Justice and industrial relations after the Charter of Nice.

In 1988, the Department for employment and industrial relations of Bari Uni-

versity organized a Colloquy on Constitutional Justice and Industrial relations.

The keynote contribution of Bruno Veneziani focuses on the case law in the

eld of industrial relations of the Italian Constitutional Court over a period of

more than thirty years (V, 1990). The author reects upon this body of

case law from various perspectives. He elaborates on the role the Court played

throughout various judicial techniques ranging from the interpretation of statutes

to declaring some statutory provisions unconstitutional. Veneziani also describes

in a more substantive way how the Court sought to balance conicting consti-

tutional values. Last but not least, the contribution adopts a political sciences

perspective, delineating how the Court constitutionalized the role of social part-

ners and undertakings in a pluralist and multi-layered democracy. The judicial

activism of the Italian Constitutional Court often confronted with a legislative

deadlock has been benecial to the development of an efcient system of indus-

trial relations promoting equality and social justice. The attitude of the Court is

being saluted as pragmatic and in touch with the present day reality (razionalità

materiale).

The proclamation of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights

(2000) did create a momentum to alter the economic constitution of the European

Union. Due to the adoption of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

(2004), the Charter was indeed formally integrated into primary EU law. Thus,

an additional layer of fundamental rights did complement the older constitu-

tionalization of fundamental (economic) freedoms. The question remains to be

answered to what extent the Constitutional Treaty would have claried the pre-

cise relation between “social” and “economic” objectives of the Union. In our

view, the Treaty establishing a Constitution indeed provided an unambiguous

answer. Fundamental (economic) freedoms were relegated to Title I. They were

relevant to dene the “objectives” of the European Union. Fundamental Rights

were at the heart of Title II. Thus, they were rightly considered as an issue of

citizenship. It is of the essence of human rights to protect citizens against the

objectives of a political organization. In sum, there was a strong case in favour of