La selezione dei giudici della Corte di giustizia dell'Unione. Nuove prospettive di integrazione e legittimazione.

Abstract The appointment of judges to supranational and international courts has long been a neglected area of sovereign activity. However, the growing role and significance of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), by now one of the most significant players within the European political and constitutional space, demands reforms which also affect its architecture. The creation of the advisory panel under article 255 TFUE, whose task is to provide the Council with opinions on candidates suitability, it could be considered one of the most interesting novelties introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. Indeed, the panel is definitely a way to improve judicial independence and proficiency but also a means to centralize judicial selection process at the supranational level. we argue that panel activity is much more influential than the modesty of its formal powers let suppose. After a deep analysis on judicial selection procedures for the ECJ, we underline the strength and the weakness points of the new panel 255. This study let us to believe that the new panel is an important step forward a stronger European integration. In the second part, adopting a comparative approach, we propose some judicial selection models for supranational and international courts. In this way, the thesis contextualizes art.255 TFUE within a general trend present at a comparative level. Finally the thesis offers a critical reading of art.255 TFUE analyzing some important cross-cutting issues concerning independence, transparency, democracy and diversity in judicial nominations. To this extent, this doctoral thesis shows how judicial selection procedures may have important substantial implications: especially with regard to ECJ legitimacy.