The Constitutional Implications of a Sustainable Circular Economy at the European Union and National Levels

This chapter analyses the constitutional implications of the circular economy at the European Union and national levels. The chapter critically discusses the opinions that have emerged among the authors, according to which the circular economy has brought about a constitutional change in the European Union, reshaping the relationship between the single market and the environment, and compare them with national constitutional experiences. The Italian case is used as a case study, as the Italian Constitution has recently been amended to include environmental protection among the fundamental principles and as an explicit limit to the freedom of enterprise. The argument discussed in the chapter is that, at the level of the European Union, the circular economy affects the economic paradigm from within, while in the Italian constitution, as in other national constitutions, the environment is still perceived as an external limit to the economy and the market. However, the two perspectives are only apparently contradictory, because there has been a link of interdependence between the EU and national dimensions in environmental matters, so that changes at one level are reflected and inevitably influence the other.