From sustainable development as a constitutional principle to the European Union as a subject of responsibility a se

Abstract

This article examines sustainable development as a legal principle and constitutional value within the legal order of the European Union, as enshrined in EU primary law. Building on the established influence of international law in shaping sustainable development as a legally operative concept - characterised by multidimensionality, an integrated approach and an intergenerational horizon - it argues for its qualification as a constitutional principle of the European Union, as an expression of a synthesis between a strong conception of sustainability and the foundations of a socio-ecological market economy. The article seeks to delimit the legal and constitutional foundations, meaning and scope of this qualification. Notwithstanding its open-ended nature and the fact that, when considered in isolation and in light of the principle of conferral, it cannot constitute an autonomous legal basis for Union action, sustainable development is regarded as capable of grounding a distinct responsibility of the Union, both internally and externally. Finally, it identifies avenues for the implementation of such responsibility, through the articulation between the principle of sustainable development and the Union’s duties to guarantee, protect and promote fundamental rights, as well as to pursue the Sustainable Development Goals as structural tasks of European integration.