Introduction to European Union Law

This volume is intended to be a support to the European Union law manuals. to delve deeper into the central themes of the nature and legal system of the Union. In fact, the manuals of European Union law tend to deal prevalently, as is right, with the issues of the institutions and policies of the Union. For this reason, in these volumes a central and logically presupposed theme is not investigated in an organic way, that is, what the European Union is from a legal point of view and what are the characteristics of its system. These themes are logically presupposed to the former precisely because they are necessary to understand the reasons for the existence of the specific legal institutions governed by Union law and necessary, ultimately, for the functioning of the European Union itself.

In this, in particular, the attempts of the 1920s and 1930s to resolve the "contradiction between state and market" were explored in depth.

The second chapter has been updated by introducing new trends in the reconstruction of the Union according to the “political-legal” approach.

The other chapters have been updated with reference to the important case law recently issued by the Court of Justice. This case law has confirmed the basic approach contained in this volume, that is, the distinction between the concept of “legal nature” of the Union and that of “constitutional framework” of its legal system.