Abstract

The article focuses on the judgment n. 239/2018 of the Italian Constitutional Court on the question of legality about the threshold clause for the European Parliament election. For the Italian judges the threshold is compatible with the principles of representative democracy and it’s also necessary for a rationalization of the representation of political forces within the European Parliament. This interpretation – that is similar to the opinion of the Czech Constitutional Court – it’s different from the position of the German Constitutional Court according to which the threshold is unconstitutional for violation of the principle of equal voting. The different rulings derive from different opinions on the role of European Parliament and its political power towards the European Commission.