How 'European' is the Italian Regional State now? A study on the Europeanization of the Italian Regional System

To what extent do Italian courts adapt the national legal instruments (principles,rules, techniques, legal concepts) regarding state structure to therequirements of EU law? This paper aims to give an answer to this questionby providing an overview of the most emblematic cases of “re-adaptations”operated by the Italian courts in order to ensure the respect of the structuralprinciples of EU law. This contribution is structured as follows: first, Iwill explain the reasons why research like this is “difficult”, while secondlyI will move to the analysis of the of some legal instruments (principle ofcompetence, substitutive power, “cedevolezza”). Some final remarks willbe presented at the end of the paper. Generally speaking, my main idea isthat EU law has had a certain impact on the relationship between Stateand Regions in Italy, especially looking at the seasons of the principle ofcompetence, that has been conceived more and more as referring to theidea of “legislative preference” rather than as to the existence of a “legislativereserved domain”.