ABSTRACT
Public finance is the engine that drives the state and, in particular, the public administration. Several studies have focused on the economic and management features of public finance. However, few have examined the legal dimension, and even fewer the relationship between public finance and the public administration. Nevertheless, public finance plays a crucial role: a wide range of financial rules, constraints, procedures and acts is applied in the public administration (hence the growing “juridification” of public finance). This greatly affects public activities and even the protection of fundamental rights (“financial primacy”).
European integration has contributed to this trend. Since the 1990s, the public finance system in each Member State is increasingly influenced by rules, measures and acts of the European Union (EU). In Member States, economic and financial planning is subject to a complex body of rules and supervision of EU provenance, significant amounts of financial resources come directly from the EU and several Member States participate in the monetary union, which bolsters the enforcement of the European constraints.
Thus, public administration in Member States cannot be studied without considering the EU regulatory framework. It is in this context that the conditioning (“shaping”) power of finance rules draws strength.
