Les Communautés européennes et l'Union européenne ont toujours exprimé leur engagement à respecter les droits de l'homme. Depuis la première Convention intergouvernementale chargée de la rédaction du projet de Charte des Droits Fondamentaux (1999-2001), une deuxième Convention a été organisée. La dernière a proposé le projet de Constitution pour l'Union européenne qui par la suite a été rejeté dans deux referenda nationaux et a soulevé de nombreuses questions sur la légitimité de l'Union et son avenir. Récemment, le Conseil de l'Union Européenne a décidé d'abandonner le projet de Constitution pour l'Union européenne et a ouvert la voie vers le traité modificatif. À part la légitimité de l'Union en tant que organisation internationale ou ordre juridique international et tous les problèmes auxiliaires que la constitutionnalisation implique, ce processus est inextricablement lié au sujet très controversé de la politique des droits de l'homme. Conformément au traité constitutionnel, la Charte d'un côté et la Convention européenne des droits de l'Homme de l'autre seraient devenu parties intégrantes du système constitutionnel européen. Par contre, le nouveau traité modificatif comprendra juste un renvoi à la Charte. Néanmoins, le problème de l'Union européenne demeure l'absence d'une politique cohérente avec toutes ses éléments - des instruments écrits contraignants, l'efficacité des voies de recours, une agence des droits de l'homme, un budget et un plan horizontal. Tandis que le traité constitutionnel sans pour autant résoudre tous ces problèmes a représenté un grand pas en avant dans cette direction, le nouveau traité semble être un compromis. / The European Communities and the Union have always expressed their commitment to the respect of Human Rights. Since the first EU Convention drafted the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in 1999/2001 a second Convention has been and gone proposing a Constitution to the Union which was subsequently rejected during the ratification phase in two national referenda raising a number of questions about the Union and its future. Recently, the European Council has decided to abandon the Constitution project and opened the way to the reform treaty. Let aside the legitimacy of the Union as international organization or legal order and all the ancillary problems that this constitutionalization entails, this whole process is genuinely and inextricably linked to another controversial point - the Human Rights policy. According to the Constitutional treaty the Charter on the one hand and the ECHR on the other hand, were to be internalized within the EU's constitutional system. As opposed to the Constitutional treaty the new reform treaty will only make reference to the Charter. Nevertheless, the real problem of the EU is the absence of a human rights policy with everything this entails, legally binding instruments assessing the fundamental rights, effective remedies, a human rights agency, a budget and a horizontal plan. While the Constitutional Treaty without entirely solving the problem marked important developments to this effect, the new reform treaty seems to be a compromise.

This diploma thesis "Italy and its Approach to European Integration. European Policy of Italy on a case of the Constitutional Treaty" deals with Italian approach to European Communities/European Union and analyzes it on a case of the debate about the future of the EU, which was held since 2000 and led to the approval of the Constitutional Treaty. Italian position was charaterized as euro-enthusiastic during the whole history of European integration. This paper examines the approach and European policy of Italy after 2000 on the basis of the analysis of speeches, interviews, proposals and documents of Italian political representatives during the debate, which was then continued on the European Convention and after that a new reform was approved by the Intergovernmental Conference. In the meantime, Italy went through the elections and a change of government, which did not inspire confidence concerning the europeistic commitment. Coalition parties were considered as eurosceptic and the traditional defence of Communitarian method and deepening of the integration towards the federation were not awaited. The first part of this thesis deals with the historic background and the traditional europeistic approach. The second part is dedicated to the debate about the future of the EU, separated into several...