The aim of this work is to analyse the condition of tourism within the legal order of the European Union, in order to better understand its administration and functioning and to highlight its critical aspects and its untapped potential: adopting a historical-evolutionary perspective, the research reconstructs the gradual process through which the sector has asserted itself, from its conceptual systematisation to its placement within the present system of competences. The first chapter addresses the problem of definition, starting from the contribution of international law and, in particular, of the World Tourism Organization to the construction of a shared notion, and identifies in the elements of space, time and purpose the constitutive requirements of the phenomenon, whose cross-cutting nature is emphasised. The origins of the Community discipline are then analysed, marked by the silence of the Treaties of Rome and by recourse, in the absence of a dedicated legal basis, to the practice of the flexibility clause set out in Article 235 of the EEC Treaty, up to the first formal recognition introduced by the Maastricht Treaty. The second chapter follows the evolution of the competence from the achievements of Maastricht to Lisbon, through the debate of the Convention on the Future of Europe and the systematisation of the categories of competence, up to the landing point of Article 195 TFEU. A critical analysis of the latter is conducted, dwelling on its wording, on the economic characterisation of the phenomenon and, above all, on the prohibition of harmonisation, whose jurisprudential foundation and implications for the Community system are explored. The third chapter develops the notion of the "paradox of sufficient competence": tourism today possesses its own legal basis, but the prohibition of harmonisation restrains it in the use of the instrument of binding normative production, so that the regulation of the sector continues to flow through cross-cutting legal bases. Three vectors of indirect integration are thus examined - the open method of coordination, the paradigm of integration through funding, exemplified by the experience of the Emilia-Romagna Region, and the green preemption triggered by the Green Deal - alongside an analysis of the institutional dimension and of the limits that it itself presents. The thesis reaches a conclusion that partly reverses its own premises: the prohibition of harmonisation is not merely a constraint but also a condition of possibility, for it enables a flexible, co-creative governance that a broader competence, with procedural rigidities prolific in normative acts, would not guarantee. European tourism operates, in practice, as a competence different from the one apparently framed by the Treaties, since it is directly exercised through the instruments of a supporting competence yet indirectly benefits from non-formalised opportunities for integration: a character who attempts to perform already as a protagonist, drawing on a freedom that an overly rigid script would have denied it.
L’obiettivo del lavoro è analizzare la condizione del turismo nell'ordinamento dell'Unione europea, per comprenderne meglio l’amministrazione ed il funzionamento e per evidenziarne le criticità e le potenzialità inespresse: adottando una prospettiva storico-evolutiva, la ricerca ricostruisce il progressivo percorso di affermazione del settore, dalla sua sistematizzazione concettuale fino alla collocazione nell'attuale sistema delle competenze. Il primo capitolo affronta il problema definitorio partendo dal contributo del diritto internazionale, e, in particolare, dell'Organizzazione Mondiale del Turismo, alla costruzione di una nozione condivisa e individua negli elementi dello spazio, del tempo e della motivazione i requisiti costitutivi della fattispecie, della quale viene rimarcata la natura trasversale. Vengono poi analizzate le origini della disciplina comunitaria, segnata dal silenzio dei Trattati di Roma e dal ricorso, in assenza di una base giuridica dedicata, alla prassi della clausola di flessibilità di cui all'articolo 235 del Trattato CEE, fino al primo riconoscimento formale introdotto dal Trattato di Maastricht. Il secondo capitolo segue l'evoluzione della competenza dalle conquiste di Maastricht a Lisbona, attraverso il dibattito della Convenzione sul futuro dell'Europa e la sistemazione delle categorie di competenza, fino all'approdo dell'articolo 195 del TFUE. Di quest’ultimo, viene condotta un'analisi critica, soffermandosi sul dato lessicale, sulla connotazione economicistica del fenomeno e, soprattutto, sul divieto di armonizzazione, di cui vengono esplorati il fondamento giurisprudenziale e le implicazioni per il sistema comunitario. Il terzo capitolo elabora la nozione di «paradosso della competenza sufficiente»: il turismo dispone oggi di una propria base giuridica, ma il divieto di armonizzazione lo frena nell’impiego dello strumento della produzione normativa vincolante, sicché la regolamentazione del settore continua a fluire attraverso basi giuridiche trasversali. Vengono così esaminati tre vettori di integrazione indiretta - il metodo aperto di coordinamento, il paradigma dell'integration through funding, esemplificato dall'esperienza della Regione Emilia-Romagna, e la green preemption innescata dal Green Deal - accanto a un'analisi della dimensione istituzionale e dei limiti che essa stessa presenta. La tesi giunge a una conclusione che ne rovescia in parte le premesse: il divieto di armonizzazione non è soltanto un limite ma anche una condizione di possibilità, poiché consente una governance flessibile e co-creativa che una competenza più ampia, con delle rigidità procedurali prolifiche di atti normativi, non garantirebbe. Il turismo europeo opera, nei fatti, come una competenza diversa da quella apparentemente inquadrata dai Trattati poiché viene direttamente esercitata con gli strumenti di una competenza di sostegno ma indirettamente beneficia di possibilità d’integrazione non formalizzate: un personaggio che prova a recitare già da protagonista, sfruttando una libertà che un copione troppo rigido gli avrebbe negato.
La competenza dell'Unione europea in materia di turismo: il governo della trasversalità, tra i Trattati e la prassi
FINA, TOLINDO
2026
Abstract
The aim of this work is to analyse the condition of tourism within the legal order of the European Union, in order to better understand its administration and functioning and to highlight its critical aspects and its untapped potential: adopting a historical-evolutionary perspective, the research reconstructs the gradual process through which the sector has asserted itself, from its conceptual systematisation to its placement within the present system of competences. The first chapter addresses the problem of definition, starting from the contribution of international law and, in particular, of the World Tourism Organization to the construction of a shared notion, and identifies in the elements of space, time and purpose the constitutive requirements of the phenomenon, whose cross-cutting nature is emphasised. The origins of the Community discipline are then analysed, marked by the silence of the Treaties of Rome and by recourse, in the absence of a dedicated legal basis, to the practice of the flexibility clause set out in Article 235 of the EEC Treaty, up to the first formal recognition introduced by the Maastricht Treaty. The second chapter follows the evolution of the competence from the achievements of Maastricht to Lisbon, through the debate of the Convention on the Future of Europe and the systematisation of the categories of competence, up to the landing point of Article 195 TFEU. A critical analysis of the latter is conducted, dwelling on its wording, on the economic characterisation of the phenomenon and, above all, on the prohibition of harmonisation, whose jurisprudential foundation and implications for the Community system are explored. The third chapter develops the notion of the "paradox of sufficient competence": tourism today possesses its own legal basis, but the prohibition of harmonisation restrains it in the use of the instrument of binding normative production, so that the regulation of the sector continues to flow through cross-cutting legal bases. Three vectors of indirect integration are thus examined - the open method of coordination, the paradigm of integration through funding, exemplified by the experience of the Emilia-Romagna Region, and the green preemption triggered by the Green Deal - alongside an analysis of the institutional dimension and of the limits that it itself presents. The thesis reaches a conclusion that partly reverses its own premises: the prohibition of harmonisation is not merely a constraint but also a condition of possibility, for it enables a flexible, co-creative governance that a broader competence, with procedural rigidities prolific in normative acts, would not guarantee. European tourism operates, in practice, as a competence different from the one apparently framed by the Treaties, since it is directly exercised through the instruments of a supporting competence yet indirectly benefits from non-formalised opportunities for integration: a character who attempts to perform already as a protagonist, drawing on a freedom that an overly rigid script would have denied it.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
