LIMITI E PROSPETTIVE DEL PRINCIPIO DI SOLIDARIETÀ TRA STATI DELL’UE

In the EU, crises are in some respects a necessary factor in enabling the integration process between member states to continue its course, aimed, at least potentially, at leading to an ever more perfect merging of legal frameworks. The various crises that cyclically manifest themselves in the territories of the Union, starting from certain sectors or specific areas of impact, e.g. political, economic, health, humanitarian (think of the financial crisis of sovereign debt, the euro crisis, the refugee crisis, the Brexit crisis, the pandemic crisis and perhaps, in the light of the latest international events, the energy crisis) rapidly become, almost automatically, a crisis of values. A circumstance that 'forces' the institutions and member states - in order to mitigate the rising political disunity and the consolidation of feelings of hostility and disaffection - to introduce new assistance instruments and new emergency management measures. The present research, in view of the fact that the health-economic crisis triggered by the outbreak of Covid-19 in the EU has given new momentum to the 'question' of European solidarity, intends, on the one hand, to develop a philosophical-legal reflection on the concept of solidarity, and then, on the other hand, to critically examine the responses introduced by the Union to deal with the pandemic. In these terms, the discussion will be developed around three argumentative poles. First, an attempt will be made to define the concept of solidarity from the political and cultural background of 19th and 20th century Europe. More specifically, attention will be given to the 'question' of solidarity in Europe from the conceptual heritage developed by the French solidarist movement. Subsequently, attention will be focused on the evolution - starting from its 'entrance' - of solidarity into the EU legal framework. In this regard, taking the current legal framework as a point of reference, emphasis will be placed on the circumstance that, as rich as the EU legislation is in references to the principle under consideration, there are numerous (regulatory and political) 'limits' that stand in the way of its authentic implementation; above all, in its inter-state dimension. Thirdly, within the framework of the conceptual framework thus outlined - bearing in mind that the intensity of the 'pandemic crisis' cannot be said to be linked only to the economic-social consequences due to the spread of the virus, but must (also) be attributed to a whole catalogue of previous political and regulatory fragilities and imbalances, which still reverberate their effects in the EU - it will be examined the importance attributed to solidarity as a consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak in the territory of the Union. At the conclusion of the present work, an attempt will be made to assess whether, and to what extent, the initiatives put in place by the Union to counter the adverse effects of the pandemic diverge or not from that 'fundamental logic' of the EU related to the principle of solidarity: logic which, over time, has subordinated the principle of solidarity to that of the primary protection of the market and competition among states.