B7609 - Sem. Fiscal Sovereignty and European Integration

Learning outcomes

The seminar is part of the educational activities of the Jean Monnet Chair “Public Finance Law and European Integration” and complies with the objectives of the Jean Monnet Action promoted by the EU. It aims to summarize the current framework of relations between national financial systems and European systems, in the process of progressive integration that characterizes them, adopting the notion of fiscal sovereignty in the contemporary age as a reconstructive perspective. This concept, central to the tradition of political and legal studies of the state, will be examined in relation to the fundamental components of public finance: taxation, debt, and currency. The progressive formation of a genuine European fiscal capacity, which is complementing and integrating with that of the states, in a more complex framework of global economic and geopolitical dynamics, requires us to question and rethink the traditional category of financial sovereignty and to seek to understand its contradictory processes of erosion, revival, and transformation over the last decade. The seminar is methodologically informed by the criteria of legal analysis and, in particular, public finance and tax law, but will be interdisciplinary in nature, promoting comparison with other legal areas and scientific fields (economics, politics). There are two main objectives: on the one hand, to stimulate students to engage in critical, broad, and reasoned reflection on how all powers of public budget financing (taxation, borrowing, money creation) are subject to a process of restructuring and reallocation within an increasingly multi-level system of relations between (national and international) legal orders; on the other hand, to promote understanding of how this constitutes a fundamental challenge and a necessary turning point for the construction of a European legal, economic, and social system that can be truly cohesive, resilient, fair, and sustainable.

Course contents

The interdisciplinary seminar will explore topics in Public finance law and tax law, EU law, and consitutional law, with a particular focus on current political and institutional issues. In particular, it will address topics related to the effects that the process of European economic integration, within a broader context of international political and economic dynamics, has had and continues to have on the configuration of state sovereignty. This will be done with particular reference to certain traditional attributes of sovereignty: the imposition of taxes, the issuance and management of currency, and the unlimited capacity to issue sovereign debt.

The seminars will cover some of the macro-themes listed below, which will be selected and detailed in light of current political, economic, and institutional events and issues.

• The categories of financial power and tax power and their critical reinterpretation: sovereignty, government, governance
• The relationship between taxation and the market in the context of the European Union and international trade: tax harmonization processes and the functioning of the customs union
• Sovereignty in public spending and tax expenditure and the impact of prohibitions and conditions established by EU law
• The euro and monetary sovereignty
• Sovereign debt, market sovereignty, and the principle of sustainability
• European Union budget planning and management and the difficult construction of European fiscal sovereignty

Classes will be held approximately from April to mid-May 2026.

The detailed and complete calendar of meetings, with information on classrooms and times, will be published in the section of virtuale.unibo.it relating to the seminar and on the dedicated website of the Jean Monnet Chair in Public Finance Law and European Integration [https://site.unibo.it/pubfine/it] [https://site.unibo.it/pubfine/it]

Readings/Bibliography

The texts and the bibliographies for macro-topics or for each seminar meeting will be published in the section of virtuale.unibo.it relating to the seminar.

The study materials will be differentiated between students attending and not attending the seminars (see the following section “Teaching methods”).

Among other things, some chapters of the volume edited by A. Mondini, “Lezioni di Diritto della finanza pubblica europea”, Wolters-Kluwer CEDAM, 2025, will constitute study material. The volume can be consulted in the “La Mia Biblioteca WKI” database accessible from the University library service website sba.unibo.it. The chapters of the book to be studied and other texts indicated for each individual seminar (slides, lecture notes, articles) will be differentiated for attending and non-attending students and will be indicated or made available in the seminar section on virtuale.unibo.it.

On virtuale.unibo.it, the compulsory readings for both attending and non-attending students will be indicated for each seminar. Some optional readings for further study will also be indicated.

Teaching methods

The seminar consists of a variable number of lectures (from 6 to 8) for a total of 16 hours, in April and May 2026.

Classes will be held in person with attendance recorded, and attendance at all seminar meetings is recommended. Attendance will be recorded by collecting signatures. Attendance status is acquired by participating in at least 90% of the lesson hours (14 hours). Only physical presence in the classroom will be taken into consideration, even if some seminars will be held in a mixed mode on the Microsoft Teams platform of Unibo. All meetings will be audio-video recorded and will be accessible upon request by interested students for a limited period of time after the seminar.

The lessons will have an interdisciplinary and purely seminar-based approach: they will all be held or attended by the course lecturer, and speakers (professors, scholars, and experts) from other scientific disciplines, both legal (EU law, constitutional law, public law, administrative law, tax law, etc.) and economic and political sciences, from the University of Bologna or other universities/research centers, will be invited to participate. Some meetings will take the form of conferences/conventions open to the external public. etc.) and economics and political science, from the University of Bologna or other universities/research centers. Some meetings will take the form of conferences/conventions open to the public. Discussion and debate with students will be encouraged.

Assessment methods

Oral examination

In order to pass the seminar, students must take an oral examination. At the end of the examination, depending on the degree program and study plan, students will be assigned a grade out of 30 (for students enrolled in the single-cycle master's degree program) or a pass/fail grade (for students enrolled in the three-year bachelor's degree program in labor consulting).

During the interview, candidates will be asked questions (usually three) based on the concepts and knowledge acquired through attendance at lectures and critical reading of the study texts and teaching materials. The questions in the oral interview will focus on the topics indicated in the “Program and contents” section. To prepare for the exam, students are required to study the materials, texts, and readings indicated in the “Texts/Bibliography” section and consult the main legislation referred to in the texts and during the lessons.

The questions aim to verify, among other things, whether the student has learned the concepts related to the legal institutions studied, whether they are able to explain the main issues concerning the topics studied through correct legal reasoning, whether they have acquired the necessary argumentation skills for interpreting the rules and for analyzing and solving legal problems, and whether they are able to critically apply the knowledge acquired, also referring to the content of the rules, case law, and doctrine.

Where applicable, the final mark will be based on the following criteria:

• minimal or barely sufficient preparation → 18-20;
• fair preparation on the topics covered → 21-23;
• more than adequate or fairly good preparation → 24-26;
• good or more than good preparation → 27-28
• substantially comprehensive preparation 29;
• excellent preparation → 30
• excellent preparation → 30L.

Special and facilitated examination methods.

Special and facilitated forms of assessment (at the student's discretion) are available as part of the overall activities of the Jean Monnet Chair in Public Finance Law and European Integration.

1. Single interview for the seminar and for the Financial Law exam with a question of your choice. Students who have attended both the Financial Law course and the seminar B7609 - SEM. FISCAL SOVEREIGNTY AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION, may take the seminar assessment together with the Financial Law course exam in a single interview (approximately 5 questions in total). During the part of the interview relating to the seminar (two questions), one of the questions asked to the student may concern a topic chosen by the student themselves (question of their choice). In order to be admitted to this facilitated examination procedure, students must attend at least 75% of the seminar hours, i.e., 12 hours out of 16 (the difference between the study materials required for students with 90% attendance and for other students who do not attend remains unchanged).
2. Mixed exam format (written paper + oral discussion of the paper) for students who attend 100% of the seminar plus attendance/exam in Financial Law. Students who attend both the Financial Law course in the academic year 2025/2026 (or who have already taken the Financial Law exam in previous academic years) and all the meetings of seminar B7609 - SEM. FISCAL SOVEREIGNTY AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION (100% attendance), in addition to being able to take the exam together with the Financial Law course (see previous point), may submit a written paper for the seminar portion of the exam. The paper must be at least 40,000 characters (including spaces) and must deal with and explore, with the support of adequate bibliographic research, a topic agreed upon in advance with the instructor. The topic must be agreed upon in advance, with sufficient time before the exam date on which the student intends to register, no less than 28 days in advance). The topic of the paper must relate to some of the topics covered during the seminar. The paper must be submitted to the professor no later than seven days before the exam date. If the student chooses this assessment method, they will discuss the paper with the professor during the oral exam related to the seminar. In this case, the professor may also ask the student questions on relevant topics related to the topic covered in the paper and discussed during the seminar.
3. Cumulative exam with multiple-choice questions, in case of enrollment and attendance in both seminars of the Jean Monnet Chair “Public Finance Law and European Integration” (B7609 - SEM. FISCAL SOVEREIGNTY AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION + B6455 - SEM. EUROPEAN COORDINATION OF NATIONAL PUBLIC FINANCES AND THE REFORM OF THE STABILITY AND GROWTH PACT). Students (5th year LMCU or CLARA students) who, in the academic year 2025/2026, can include both Jean Monnet Chair seminars in their study plan and attend both seminars, will be able to take the relevant exams in a single interview, with one question of their choice for each of the two seminars (2 questions of their choice out of a total of 4 questions). The minimum attendance required for this benefit is 75% of the class hours of each seminar (12 hours out of 16). The same students will also have access to the concessions indicated in points 1 and 2 above if the requirements and conditions are met (in the case of 100% attendance of both seminars, only one paper may be submitted for one of the two seminars, while the exam for the other must be taken in the form of an oral examination)

Teaching tools

Any slides used during the seminar by the lecturers will be published on virtuale.unibo.it, along with brief handouts, texts and materials, and links to databases on European public finance.

Students with learning disabilities or temporary or permanent disabilities are invited to contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it) in advance. The office will propose any adjustments, which must be submitted 15 days in advance for approval by the lecturer, who will assess their suitability in relation to the course objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Mondini