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Eu anti-crisis measures had a profound impact on the fabric of the European integration process, engendering systemic conflicts with some of its foundational elements. This chapter looks at the capacity of the system to deal with these conflicts in order to avoid that they may shake its foundations and further weaken the legitimacy of the integration process. In particular, the paper focuses on the role that the Court of Justice of the European Union ('the Court') has been able, and/or willing, to play when anti-crisis measures encroach upon fundamental social rights and, more in general, the balance between the social and the economic dimensions within the EU legal order. The first part looks at the departure from the rule of law in the context of bailout programmes devised to assist Member States that have been hard hit by the crisis. The second part looks at the impact of anti-crisis measures on social rights, examining some of the defining features of the conditions attached to financial assistance packages. The third and fourth parts turn to the Court, critically analysing its role in the new European economic governance and its capacity to preserve some of the foundational elements of the EU legal order.

The recovery plan of the Commission entitled "Next Generation EU" proposes a compromise that goes beyond the ominous lowest common denominator. With a package of EUR 750bn in total, comprising EUR 250bn in loans and the rest in grants, the Commission paves the way for both forward-looking public finance and constitutional innovation. The proposals are masterpieces of high-tech legal engineering. Again, European constitutional law evolves through crisis. Yet, again, it stands to reason how far the proposed instruments will shift the European Union towards enhancing solidarity and democracy.

"The existence of a structured enforcement system is an inherent feature of national legal orders and one of the core elements of State sovereignty. The very limited power to issue sanctions has often been deemed a gap in the EC legal order. Over the years, the situation has progressively changed. The Union's institutional setting is growing in complexity and a variety of agencies has been or is expected to be endowed with law enforcement responsibilities. In addition, the so-called competence creep has led the EU to play an increasingly prominent role in several areas of EU law enforcement, including the issuing of sanctions. This book examines these developments, focusing on both the general features of the EU legal order and the analysis of key-substantive areas, such as banking and monetary union, environmental law, and data protection. The work thus presents a general framework for understanding EU sanctioning based on structural features and general legal principles. Part I develops an analytical framework, tracking the most significant evolutive patterns of EU sanctioning powers. Part II adopts a more practical approach focusing on specific issues and policy areas. The book bridges a gap in existing literature and sheds new light on the relationship between the exercise of jus puniendi and the evolution of EU integration"--

Enforcement of EU law has changed considerably in the last decades. By bringing the recent developments together, this chapter offers a 'bird's-eye view' of the what, who and how' concerning enforcement of EU law. It discusses the many ways of enforcement under the three scenarios and zooms in on the most intrusive enforcement power, i.e., the sanctioning power. All in all, it shows that enforcement of EU law has been done differently in different policy areas, which demonstrates an ongoing search for the conditions and factors of when EU law enforcement can be enforced more effectively and what role there is for sanctions to play.

Corona bonds are feasible and important to preserve the European project. We set out a number of principles that might serve as a blueprint for the European institutions. Importantly, Corona bonds could be issued through a new public law entity and include all the safeguards required for the protection of the fundamental values of the EU. This proposal is pragmatic in the sense that it facilitates the choice European leaders have to make now; necessary to secure the resilience of the European Union. The political risks are significantly higher now than in 2010. The gargantuan challenge of tackling the combined impact of climate change, migration, digitalization, geopolitical shifts, and the spread of autocracy, requires leadership and joint action by the Council and the Eurogroup.

Governments, economists and intellectuals have called for common European bonds or increased own EU funds to address the recession induced by Covid19. Unfortunately, the German government, joined by the other members of the "Frugal Four" (Austria, Finland, the Netherlands), has categorically rejected to look into any such measures and favours using the ESM. This reaction created a déjà vu experience for citizens and governments of the heavily affected southern Member States of the EU. The proposal to use the ESM raises fears of another wave of austerity amounting to yet another lost decade for economic, social, and ecological development in Europe.

Corona bonds are feasible and important to preserve the European project. We set out a number of principles that might serve as a blueprint for the European institutions. Importantly, Corona bonds could be issued through a new public law entity and include all the safeguards required for the protection of the fundamental values of the EU. This proposal is pragmatic in the sense that it facilitates the choice European leaders have to make now; necessary to secure the resilience of the European Union. The political risks are significantly higher now than in 2010. The gargantuan challenge of tackling the combined impact of climate change, migration, digitalization, geopolitical shifts, and the spread of autocracy, requires leadership and joint action by the Council and the Eurogroup.

Almost a decade has passed since the outbreak of the economic crisis; from its original nucleus, its effects have quickly affected the social and geopolitical fields. Such wide impact and its complex implications make the crisis an object susceptible of multiple readings. The particular aim of the studies collected in this volume is to explore the impact of the crisis on law, culture and society, in order to test the depth of the problem, by comparing the analytical perspectives obtainable from legal and human sciences. The book focuses on three main issues: the crisis as a social object, in order to consider the crisis in terms of its attributing force; the problem of democracy, which is becoming an increasingly central question now, as the changes imposed by the crisis have begun to settle down; the interdisciplinary challenge that, in time of crisis, questions paradigms of knowledge, competences and methods, in order to enable an heuristic dialogue between human, social and legal sciences. ; Introduction / Massimo Meccarelli (pp. 9-12). -- The Crisis as a Social Object : -- Narrating the Crisis: Fictions of Finance in Contemporary British Novels / Silvana Colella (pp. 15-37). -- Social Rights in Crisis: Any Role for the Court of Justice of the EU? / Francesco Costamagna (pp. 39-64). -- Ripensare la nazione ottocentesca. Vecchi e nuovi paradigmi tra storia, diritto e globalità / Eliana Augusti (pp. 65-97). -- Ma cos'è questa crisi? / Carla Canullo (pp. 99-113). -- The Problem of Democracy : -- Defending Collective Sociality: The Oresteia at Shakespeare's Globe / Louise Owen (pp. 117-131). -- Representation of the Crisis vs Representative Democracy in Italy / Roberta Calvano (pp. 133-148). -- The Unbearable Lightness of the Freedom of Movement: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Brexit and Inmigration / Lucia Barbone, Erik Longo (pp.149-174). -- Représentation, perception de la crise et modification de la «sécurité sociale». Entre prédiction et anticipation, que signifie agir das un monde incertain? / Jean-Philipe Pierron (pp. 175-188). -- The Interdisciplinary Challenge : -- Intercultural Categories of Thought in Times of Crisis: The Challenge of Inter/Multi-discipinary Research / Flavia Stara (pp. 191-198). -- An Interdisciplinary Approach to International Law? Some Cursory Remarks / Paolo Palchetti (pp. 199-208). -- Rights in Times of Crisis: An Interdisciplinary Issue for Legal Studies / Massimo Meccarelli (pp. 209-219). -- Contributors (pp. 221-224).