Judgment No. 181/2024 of the Italian Constitutional Court: Harmonies and Dissonances in the Constiutional Jurispridence on Double Preliminarity: Searching for the Right “Tone”

Judgment No. 181/2024 of the Italian Constitutional Court (“ItCC”) has rekindled the debate on dual preliminarity, addressing the dynamic between EU law’s system of decentralized ad- judication and Italy’s centralized constitutional review of laws. The judgment appears to in- centivize recourse to the centralized system of adjudication, to the detriment of EU law, by allowing national judges greater autonomy in deciding whether to disapply conflicting nation- al laws directly or first refer them to the ItCC. Moreover, in its ruling, through the use of the flexible notion of “constitutional tone” the ItCC expanded the notion of dual preliminarity be- yond the traditional case of fundamental rights review. While the advantages of the “181 model” are highlighted in the judgment, such approach risks limiting both the immediacy of judicial protection in the EU and the integration process, guaranteed and promoted by EU law’s decentralized system of adjudication. Our contribution suggests, however, that the no- tion of “constitutional tone” may actually be functional in harmonizing these systems of adju- dication, promoting a proactive and fruitful dialogue between Courts.