Research Environment

This seminar explores different perspectives related to the legal definition and application of the principle of ‘solidarity’, and its implications for the regulation of the economy. While being recognised among the fundamental values of the EU legal system and of many national constitutional orders, solidarity does not hold a specific and well-defined meaning as a legal principle. This uncertainty enables its use in different contexts and for different purposes, especially in relation with moments of crisis and emergency. Solidarity has been evoked in relation with several dramatic moments that hit Europe in the last decade – from the 2010 economic crisis and the 2015 “migration crisis”, to the COVID-19 pandemic, and, lately, the war in Ukraine – yet with shifting meanings and contents that have shaped its application also in legal terms. Therefore, solidarity emerges as a legal principle with (shifting) normative scopes and implications.
In light of this, the speakers will engage in a discussion about the multi-faceted features of solidarity as a normative principle.