‘The European Convention on Human Rights in the dialogue between supranational and national courts’ was the theme at the heart of the inaugural conference of the Master's Degree in Law at the University of Trieste for the academic year 2025-2026. 

The event, which took place in the Main Hall of Building A in Piazzale Europa, was organised by the Department of Legal, Language, Interpreting and Translation Sciences (IUSLIT) in collaboration with the Advanced School of Magistracy (SSM) and was attended by guests of the highest academic and professional standing.

Welcoming addresses were given by the Rector, Donata Vianelli, and the Master's Degree Programme Coordinator, Nicola Muffato. Rector Vianelli highlighted the programme's excellent placement results, which ranked second in Italy in terms of graduate employment rates, according to recent reports in the national press based on AlmaLaurea data.

Gloria Carlesso, Judge of the Court of Trieste and SSM contact point for training, opened the seminar by recalling two important anniversaries: 25 years since the proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Nice, 2000) and 75 years since the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in Rome in 1950. Carlesso emphasised the need to reflect on the weight of words such as freedom and dignity, planted as ‘seeds’ in the post-war period, and illustrated the coexistence of three systems for safeguarding fundamental rights: the Italian Constitution (Italian Constitutional Court), the ECHR (Strasbourg Court) and the Charter of the European Union (Court of Justice).

Next, the Head of the IUSLIT Department, Gian Paolo Dolso, highlighted the complex and interdisciplinary nature of legal phenomena. Dolso highlighted the importance of the supranational level, which intersects with the national level, citing Article 117(1) of the Italian Constitution (amended in 2001), which binds legislative power to international obligations, including the ECHR.

The heart of the conference then focused on the speeches of three distinguished guests.

Raffaele Sabato, Judge for Italy at the European Court of Human Rights, gave a presentation on ‘The origin, interpretation and effectiveness of ECHR rules’. Sabato retraced the establishment of the Council of Europe after the Second World War, with the aim of subjecting respect for fundamental human values to international supervision. The Judge then analysed the mechanisms for applying the Convention, in particular the principle of subsidiarity, which requires the exhaustion of domestic appeals before appealing to Strasbourg. He discussed the doctrine of the ‘living instrument’ (which evolves according to European consensus), the doctrine of ‘autonomous concepts’ (to avoid ‘label fraud’ by states) and the importance of precedent (typical of Anglo-Saxon law) in the application of the ECHR. Finally, he provided data on the Court's pending cases, noting that Italy, despite being in seventh place among the Court's major ‘clients’ as of September 2025, has recurring violations in the area of property protection (Article 1, Protocol 1) and non-execution of final judgments, as in cases of municipal bankruptcy.

Pietro Franzina, full professor of international law at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, discussed ‘Human rights in the process of European integration, between the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union’. Franzina reconstructed the historical evolution of integration, which began without explicit references to fundamental rights in the original treaties. He highlighted how the Court of Justice was the first to intervene, developing fundamental rights as general principles of Community law based on ‘common constitutional traditions’. The professor clarified that the Charter of Nice (2000), although it now has the same legal value as the Treaties, applies to Member States only when they implement Union law. Franzina touched on the issue of the failure to complete the EU's ongoing programme of accession to the ECHR and concluded with the concrete example of the Directive on SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), which aims to combat intimidating legal actions against journalists and activists, defending freedom of expression.

Finally, Nicola Lupo, full professor of constitutional law at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, analysed ‘The European Convention on Human Rights and the Italian Constitution’. Lupo urged that the role of the legislator, whose work is made extremely complex by the international and supranational regulatory framework, should not be undermined. He warned against viewing the dialogue between the courts as a struggle, arguing that relations are predominantly collaborative, even in cases of known conflict (such as the Taricco case). The professor lamented Italy's failure to ratify Protocol No 16 of the ECHR, which would allow higher national courts to refer questions to the Strasbourg Court for a preliminary ruling, calling it a ‘missed opportunity’. In closing, Lupo described the Italian Constitution as a ‘triangular constitution’, constantly evolving and supplemented by interpretation in accordance with EU law and the ECHR.