Il telos dell'interpretazione conforme all'acquis dell'Unione

This article focuses on the rule of consistent interpretation, according to which domestic law should be interpreted in coherence with the EU acquis. Thirty years after the first statement of the ECJ in that respect, and arguing from the relevant case-law, the paper aims to reconstruct the structural elements, the legal basis, the limits and the intimate rationale of this systemic rule of jus non scriptum. It advocates that consistent interpretation is not a mere hermeneutical method, but rather an argumentative technique instrumental for ensuring the effectiveness of EU law. In addition, it maintains that, despite some analogies with the general theory of consistent interpretation, the EU rule has a peculiar telos, implying inter alia quite an invasive form of control on domestic law. Since it is a constructive tool based on the application of domestic law, it is not subject to the same constraints imposed on the horizontal direct effect of some EU secondary law provisions.