The plurality and diversity of integration models: the italian unification of 1865 and the european union ongoing integration process

Analysed in this chapter are the characteristics of two main integration processes that Italy has experienced. Firstly, the country’s unification as a nation more than 150 years ago. Secondly, and more recently, together with other EU Member States, the constitution of a Legal Order. In both cases, the integration process is not meant to be homogeneous as far as various entities and activities are concerned, nor is it based mainly on general and abstract rules. Rather, it relies on administrative acts and different forms of administrative cooperation. The administrative integration process involving different contexts within unified Italy as a kingdom, from 1865, shows recurring asymmetry because of multiple levels of integration needed - something which was achieved by involving many different institutions in the process. Likewise, the ongoing European Union integration process is not resulting from one single, but from a number of parallel relationships among various institutions working in different sectors, and pursuing integration by designing and following their own path and timing. In the newly unified Italy the administrative integration process was not always structural (as for ministries, etc.). Also, it was only functional at times (as for the authorities of each jurisdiction, central banks, etc.). However, functional integration was arguably no less effective than structural integration. The 1865 Unification Laws of Italy, in fact, have been thoroughly studied and praised, and rightly so, despite the fact that their impact onto the newly unified country was limited because of their abstract definition, which required subsequent asymmetrical activities by administrative bodies to put them into practice, thus make them effective. Examining the approach adopted by the Italian administrative bodies after 1865 as a case study, we may argue that only closer cooperation between today’s national and European institutions would allow them to succeed in pursuing integration as a shared goal. All this regardless of whether that integration should take place through traditional instruments (such as the controls that used to be performed by the Prefect in Italy, but are now a prerogative of the EU Court of Auditors) or network organisations (such as ETCGs, transnational purchasing groups, or cross border central purchasing bodies). A parallel between the two different administrative integration processes outlined here will be drawn and discussed in this chapter.