Abstract

Our paper is focused on the legal ‘grey’ zone between constitutionality and unconstitutionality which was created by the Italian Corte costituzionale, Constitutional Court, in some recent judgments. Three cases in particular (Judgments 372-378-379/2004), regarding the legal effect of some regional provisions on rights and fundamental principles, were ambiguously dealt with by he Corte costituzionale. These provisions were included by the regional legislatures in their new Regional Charters (Statuti regionali) adopted after the Italian constitutional reform of 1999. This reform resulted in the amendment of Article 123 of the Italian Constitution, according to which the regional Statuti are required to be ‘in harmony with the (national) Constitution’, instead of ‘in harmony with the Constitution and with the laws of the Republic’ as was the Constitution’s previous text. Against this new background, several regional legislatures understood this as an opportunity to adopt ‘regional constitutions’.