La Carta sociale europea come parametro interposto nella recente giurisprudenza costituzionale: novità e questioni aperte.

In two judgments delivered in 2018 (No. 120 and No. 194), the Constitutional Court for the first time referred to provisions of the European Social Charter as an interposed norm in the constitutional review of primary laws. The two judgments, however, leave two questions open. First, in judgment No. 120, the Court recognizes taht the European Social Charter may complement Article 117, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, as it constitutes a natural integration of the European Conventionof Human Rights on the social level, which in fact distinguishes it from "ordinary" international agreements. In its subsequent judgment No. 194, on the other hand, the Court speaks of treaties with constitutional relevance. It is therefore necessary to ask whether "ordinary" treaties or those without a constitutional relevance, can also be used as an interposed parameter of constitutional review. Article 177, paragraph 1, of the Constitution makes no distinction between different types of international treaties. A seond question arises about the value to attribute to the decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights. According to the Court, they are not binding, especially if they conflict with other constitutional interests (hence the Court may not follow the interpretation given by the Committee). However, the Court considers them to be "authoritative" and, accordingly, takes them into consideration. The present article reviews the debate on he value of the acts of expert treaty bodies also in light of the codification carried out by the International Law Commission on the issue of subsequent practice in relation to the interpretation of treaties. The conclusion is that, leaving aside formal arguments, in practice the interpretative "weight" of the decisions of the Committee is variable and depends on factors that have already emerged in the debate and case-law concerning "res interpretata" and "stare decisis" in the framework of the European Convention of Human Rights.