Judicial dialogue in three silences: Unpacking Taricco

The Taricco litigation before the Court of Justice and the Italian Constitutional Court has generated a number of fundamental questions about the relationship between EU law and national constitutional law and about the impact of EU law on domestic criminal justice systems. The ensuing dialogue between the two Courts has resulted in a considerable degree of mutual accommodation, while leaving a number of issues unresolved. The aim of this comment is to contextualize the Taricco litigation by focusing not on what the Courts have said, but on what the Courts have actually chosen to omit or sideline in their direct conversation, focusing thus on judicial dialogue via the two Courts’ silences. Three silences will be analysed here, one for each of the rulings in the Taricco litigation in sequence