96894 - CRISES - CRITICAL RISKS FOR INTEGRATION AND SOLIDARITY IN THE EUROPEAN SPACE

Learning outcomes

This course aims to provide the students with the opportunity to develop a critical knowledge of European integration with particular attention to the most recent crises, related to finance, immigration and the violations of the rule of law. At the end of the course, students will have acquired: a) wide perspective on the intersection of political, legal, historical and economic factors in the management of the crises; b) skills useful for the identification of the legal and political factors influencing European integration; c) fundamental techniques of reading and understanding of European, constitutional and legal sources of law; d) skills of analysis of European and domestic case law; e) critical skills for the comparative analysis of historical, legal and political factors of integration processes.

Course contents

The course applies comparative methodologies to the following topics:

-European Integration and Crises

-Relations between jurisdictions

-Rule of Law Crisis

-Comparative Norms and Violation of the rule of law (focus on Poland and Hungary)

-Response of the EU: legal acts and discourse

The 28 hours of the course are among the didactic activities of the Jean Monnet Chair ROLLBACK "Rule of Law Backsliding in Europe" 2023/2026.

 

Readings/Bibliography

G. Halmai, “The Fall of the Rule of Law in Hungary and the Complicity of the EU”, Italian Journal of Public Law, 2020, pp. 205-223

G. Halmai, From Liberal Democracy to Illiberal Populist Autocracy: Possible Reasons for Hungary’s Autocratization (2024) Hague Journal of the Rule of Law, pp. 439-463

G. Piccirilli, The ‘Taricco Saga’: the Italian Constitutional Court continues its European journey, in European Constitutional Law Review. 2018;14(4):814-833

B. Iancu, Militant Democracy and Rule of Law in Three Paradoxes: The Annulment of the Romanian Presidential Elections (2025) Hague Journal of the Rule of Law [online, 28 pp.]

Wojciech Piątek, Restoring the Rule of Law in Poland: Towards the Most Appropriate Way to Put an End to the Systemic Violation of Judicial Independence (2025) European Constitutional Law Review, pp. 139-163

S. Ragone, “EUROPEAN COMPARATIVE LAW: Reasons for «Enhanced Comparison» and Role of the CJEU”, Revista de Derecho Político, 2021, pp. 297-325

S. Ragone, "Giurisdizioni costituzionali e politica: tendenze e crisi recenti nel diritto comparato", in Quaderni costituzionali, 2025

VV.AA., RULE OF LAW IN EUROPE PERSPECTIVES FROM PRACTITIONERS AND ACADEMICS, European Judicial Training Network - Chapter by Paul Craig

EU Commission 2025 Rule of Law Report - Country Chapter ItalyCase of Lorenzo Bragado v. Spain, European Court of Human Rights, 2023

Cases C-156/21 and C-157/21 (Conditionality Regulation) , EU Court of Justice, 2022

Case C-216/18, LM Case (European Arrest Warrant), EU Court of Justice, 2018

 

 

Teaching methods

Interactive learning methods will be mainly used in the teaching, combined with more traditional lessons to introduce basic topics.

Recommended texts and judgments will be discussed in class. Different legal texts adopted during the crises both by states and the EU will be used as case studies. For each topic, scholarship and possibly newspapers articles will be discussed.

Students will be involved in class discussions concerning the normative tools of the crises, the role of states and the EU, anti-crisis policies adopted in the last decade, etc. They will be required to actively participate in class.

Assessment methods

For FULL-TIME STUDENTS, the assessment will be based on their participation, their involvement in the discussions of the materials, their presentations in class and/or papers.

For NON-FULL TIME STUDENTS, the assessment will take place as a final written exam on the materials provided.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint, legal texts, judgments, newspapers'articles, videos, blogs, online journals.

Links to further information

https://site.unibo.it/jm-chair-rollback/en

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Ragone