Controllo contabile e controllo di costituzionalità delle leggi: una diversa prospettiva sul giudizio di costituzionalità in via incidentale

Abstract

Some recent rulings of Italian Constitutional Court (Corte Cost. nn. 196 of 2018, 18, 105, 138 and 146 of 2019) have further «opened» access to the judicial review of legislation (incidental control) to the Court of Auditors where it performs audit. The paper addresses the critical points and the positive reasons which underline this ongoing process of widening the incidental access to judicial review of legislation and the implications it entails with respect to: a) the understanding of relevance of the question of constitutionality of laws; b) the deductibility of constitutional parameters which diverge from those pertaining to «constitutional budgetary constraints»; c) the impact of decisions in these peculiar questions. The analysis shows how decisive it is, in order to take a position on the subject matter, the evolution of the legal order resulting from the constitutional revisions of 2001 and 2012 (constitutional laws nn. 3 of 2001 and 1 of 2012), which had a strong impact on the «position» of the Court of Auditors within the system of controls and the functions it performs: these are neutral public functions, regarding the effectiveness of the constitutional principle of «dynamic» balance of the budget and the sustainability of the public debt.