MARIO ALBERTINI

L'unificazione europea e il potere costituente 

N. 2/1986

Summary — In the a.’s opinion the boundaries of the question of the constituent power in the process of European unification are quite uncertain and can be determined only by the solution of difficult theoretical problems. The a., therefore, declares his intention of limiting himself to some observations and to the examination of two issues which have a preliminary character since they concern: a) the analysis of the language used when speaking of European unity, with a view to marking the limits of the reality to be studied, b) the analysis for defining what are the method of study and the theory suitable for the reality thus circumscribed.

As regards the first problem, the a.’s conclusion is that to embrace the whole reality of the phenomenon it is necessary to attribute an explicative value to all the three terms by which in the current communication praxis the European unitary process is known (unification, integration, construction) and not only the term " integration ", as it is usually done. As to the second problem, the a. notices 1) that in any case the phenomenon is of an historical character, 2) that the knowledge to be acquired is therefore an historical knowledge "with its irreducible character of ascertainment of that which has happened) but 3) that in order to develop this knowledge, a theoretical scheme ad hoc is necessary (a conjecture about the characteristics of the process) without which it would not be possible to attribute to some among the facts which happen, the character of facts of the process. He believes, consequently: a) that the issue should be fitted in the Weberian conception of the method of historical knowledge, b) that the theory to be elaborated should have " idealtypische " character but c) that it should not take the place of the historical knowledge, but applied for making this possible.

On this basis, and taking into consideration only the first stage of the elaboration of an idealtypus, that of the formulation of conjectures, the a. examines — in the context of the element " construction " and with reference to the historical problem of the unification of States — some essential aspects of the European project by Altiero Spinelli, who has been both the leader of the constitutional tendency (federalistic) in the struggle for Europe (conceived by him as a real political, economic and social alternative) and the theorist who, better than anybody else, has been able to recognize and describe the constitutional implications of the process of European unification.