The Treaty of Lisbon, in terms of the impact of its innovations introduced in the European Union legal order and on the process of integration of Europe, is the subject of the book under review. Edited by Professor Lorenzo F. Pace, the book compiles twelve essays (all of which are written in Italian) presented by renowned Italian scholars on the occasion of two conferences held between 2010 and 2012 at the University of the Molise region, in Italy. The book can be divided into five parts. 

The first section is focused on general principles and the protection of fundamental rights, respectively. Professor Pace focuses his contribution on the notion of “general principles” in the EU. Drawing on the case-law of the EU Courts and the elaboration of doctrine, he proposes a definition of general principles of the EU legal order as legal norms, not written and included in the notion of “law” contained in Article 19 of the Treaty on the European Union, which are created by the Court of Justice (p. 29). 

Three essays deal, within the second part, with the legislative competences within the EU (in particular, the evolving relationship of the European and national parliaments), the discussion of subsidiarity (it must be born in mind that the Lisbon Treaty has been a stimulus to national parliaments to review and strengthen their own procedures for scrutinizing EU legislative proposals), and, finally with the legislative mechanisms.

Part three deals with specific areas (such as family law, Common Foreign and Security Policy, immigration and the fight against trafficking of people). The only contribution of Part four, dedicated to the external relations of the European Union, is written by Professor Luigi Daniele and deals with international law and international agreements as sources of European Union law. 

The last Part of the book focuses on judicial protection. Professor Antonio Tizzano, judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union, offers an overview of the evolution of the role and positions held by the Italian Constitutional Court vis-à-vis European Union law and its interaction with the Court of Justice. The other two essays of this section are dedicated to the action for annulment and to the evolution of the case law in respect of interim measures, respectively.

Although some additional editorial work would have been needed, in order to harmonize the presentation of the contributions (some have references to the relevant case-law and legislation in the text, while the majority have footnotes) and the references to material which are not homogenous, the book is a well-informed and stimulating set of contributions by renowned Italian scholars which explain with a wealth of details and clear and lucid analysis of the state of the art of the EU legal order in the light of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. It is a welcome addition to the literature on post-Lisbon European Union law.

Riccardo Sciaudone

Head