Giovanni Maria Flick

The sixtieth anniversary of the Italian Constitution and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives a chance to reflect upon the growing social demand of new rights. The cause of such demand may be identified, on the one hand, in the success of renewed (relative, historical etc.) natural law theories claiming protection for interests not recognized in positive law, and, on the other hand, in the development of technology: the latter allows to fulfil needs previously impossible to satisfy, but at the same time can be a threat to individual liberties. The courts’ activity is only a partial solution to the problem: and so is the “multilevel constitutionalism” phenomenon - the multiplication of constitutional courts and charters - which does not lack drawbacks and limitations. A strong response can only come from politics, if it will prove to be capable again, as it was in the past, of shared and far-reaching choices.