Riflessioni sul significato di Stato di diritto in rapporto alla pace nel diritto dell'UE

The article examines the crucial developments of the European integration process in the light of the objective of preserving peace and against the background of the European fundamental principles and values. It argues that promoting and preserving peace internally, but also externally, with a particular responsibility for Europe, is a pivotal element in the constitutional rule of law system of the EU as enshrined in the Treaties and in their evolution across the decades. The article acknowledges that the EU successfully achieved the primary goal of its founding fathers, to preserve peace among the Member States, while proving unable to successfully take the continental responsibility to address the challenges to peace at its borders. The result has been an unacceptable double standard and the lack of a meaningful role for the EU in the two major crises of these last years, Ukraine and Gaza, while the institutional balance, internal unity and solidarity risk being destabilized.