“In condizioni di parità con altri Stati”: spunti per una rilettura dell’articolo 11 della Costituzione

“On conditions of equality with other States”: A Reading of Article 11 of the Constitution

Abstract

General debates on weapons being sent to Ukraine tend to increasing polarization: either they consider such a decision radically contrary, or always allowed, with respect to Art. 11 of the Constitution. Such a polarization builds on a likewise Manichaean dispute on the relations between national constitutions and international law: either constitutional law prevails on international law, or the latter enjoys an interpretive monopoly as concepts and notions intercepting the operative area of both are called into question.

The present work aims to break such a dichotomy in light of the statement, indeed located in a central position of the legal text, referring to the “conditions of equality with other States”. The conceptual roots of this provision emerge in the aftermaths of the Nuremberg Trial, as a new approach in national-international law relations arises in reaction to the horrors of WWII. As a result, a parliamentary decision emerges as a constitutionally binding duty for the implementation of international agreements. Such a decision must be commensurate to the political sensitivity of the case, which points to the MEPs’ having an effective chance to get information and make themselves fully aware of the facts; and it must take place every time that the case arises, not una tantum but throughout the whole duration of the international agreement concerned – Art. 11 and Art. 80 of the Constitution operating in parallel with one another.

Keywords: War; Human dignity; Self-determination; International law; Constitutional law; International agreements.