Questo saggio è destinato al volume a cura di C. Panzera, A. Rauti, C. Salazar, A. Spadaro, dal titolo La Carta Sociale Europea fra universalità dei diritti ed effettività delle tutele, di prossima pubblicazione per i tipi dell’Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli.

The first part of this paper is devoted to investigate the application of the European Social Charter. The issue is set within the context of the more general “principles without guarantees” debate. While effectiveness (and applicability) of such principles is generally uncertain, the author highlights that the European Committee of Social Charter (the “guardian” of the Charter) has been able to ensure the application of the Charter despite not having the powers of the ECHR. In the second part the author describes the reforms in Italy, and evaluates them on the ground of consistency with the principles of the European Social Charter. Some brief synthetic remarks conclude the paper.