Foreword: Constitutional Courts in the European Legal System After the Treaty of Lisbon and the Euro-Crisis (original) (raw)

A. Are Constitutional Courts the "Most Disparaged Branch" in the EU Constitutional System? When debating the constitutionalization of EU law, different views emerge regarding the role of Constitutional Courts. Some scholars see these Courts as the institutions that, since the 1970s, have marked turning points in the construction of the European legal system, thanks to their case law on the protection of fundamental rights, democratic principle, and constitutional "counter limits". Constitutional Courts have provided and can provide invaluable inputs into the activity of the European institutions, particularly to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), so as to reconcile the national and the supranational.1 According to other scholars, however, Constitutional Courts can be seen as "the most disparaged branch" in the process of European integration, very often criticized for their The articles published in this Speciallssue have been selected, presented, and discussed on the occasion of the call for papers and the conference on The preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union by Constitutional Courts, held at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome on 28-29 March 2014 in memory of Gabriella Angiulli, a PhD candidate who worked on this topic at LUISS University and at the University of Siena. The organization of the conference was possible thanks to the funds kindly provided by the Center for Parliamentary Studies, LUISS Guido Carli University, and the invaluable support of