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The paper aims to frame the genesis and governance of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which has recently been the subject of a heated public debate both on its changes and on its use to solve the health crisis that has affected the Eurozone ten years after the economic crisis that began in 2008. Although the ESM poses many legal problems, it was considered useful to focus on the functioning of the Treaty conditionalities, the impact on national policy direction and the democratic deficit of these intergovernmental mechanisms. One wonders whether this is really the idea of the European Union that the founding fathers wanted and whether the time is ripe to make a real (and significant) turning point that is indispensable for the survival of the European project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the economic crisis that hit eurozone, the reforms introduced at European and international level have had a significant impact not only on the legislation of member states but also, and above all, on the balance between constitutional bodies. The variables that mark these changes are attributable to both "endodeterminated" and "heterodetermined" factors; in particular by effect of intergovernmental agreements and European Union sources that have profoundly changed the possibility of national parliaments to still influence economic policy choices. Five years after the entry into force of the Fiscal Compact, no effective proposals have been aimed to enhance and "re-evaluate" the role of national and European representative bodies. The present work aims to highlight the main shortcomings related to this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]