84604 - DIRITTO FINANZIARIO (A-L)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to offer a current picture of the financial system. It combines the legal, structural and constitutional analysis of the forms of taxation, with the financing choices of the functions and services made in the budgets of the State, Regions and local authorities. These guarantee budgetary equilibrium, in compliance with the constitutional law and the European constraints and the sustainability of those social rights that the Constitution protects at the various levels of territorial government of public finance. Public budgets thus integrate national and European choices about fiscal plicy with administrative efficiency in the management of financial resources, according to the accounting procedures. Therefore, financial law immediately enhances the training acquired studying constitutional Law and subsequently helps to better understand tax law, administrative law, European law, thus contributing to completing the education in Law, with particular reference about current issues.

Course contents

JEAN MONNET CHAIR PUBLIC FINANCE LAW AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
From A.Y. 2024/2025 to A.Y. 2026/2027, the teaching of Public Finance Law will be an integral part of the Jean Monnet Chair "Public Finance Law and European Integration" (Project: 101177073 - PUBFINE), co-funded by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Action.
Aspects related to the European dimension of public finance and the relationship with the EU legal system will therefore be particularly emphasized in the Financial Law syllabus.
The teaching activity of the Jean Monnet Chair Public Finance Law and European Integration will be composed, in addition to the teaching of Financial Law, of no. 2 interdisciplinary seminars attributed 2 CFU each that will take place in parallel with the course of Financial Law in the period March-May 2025, and of which Prof. Andrea Mondini will be the coordinator and holder (please refer to the lecturer web page for more details).
For A.Y. 2024/2025, the seminars will cover the following topics:

• European coordination of national public finances and the 2024 reform of the European Stability and Growth Pact
  
• fiscal sovereignty and European integration.
  

The seminars can be included in the study plan by students in the 2nd year (LMCU and CLARA) and 5th year (LMCU) among the educational activities for which free credits are provided.

The aim of the course is for students to acquire knowledge of the fundamentals of:
- State financial and accounting regulations
- principles, structure and functions of public finance systems;
- the budget process and cycle;
- tax system;
- public debt;
- public expenditure.

Consistent with this objective, the programme will analyse the legal framework of Italian public finance, while devoting a significant part of the course to the rules and constraints that EU law establishes for the coordination of national public finances within the framework of the European Stability and Growth Pact.
The teaching programme is divided into two parts: a general institutional part and a monographic part that varies each year and goes into some topics of the general part in greater depth.
During the lectures, the monographic part is mainly covered, with appropriate references to the other topics of the general part.
The general institutional programme comprises the following 6 macro-topics, divided into the following points.

I. Principles and functions of public finance law
1. Public finance between economics, law, policy.
2. Fundamentals of macroeconomics and national public accounting
3. The financial and accounting system. Historical evolution and legal sources
4. From neutral to functional public finance in the market economy: allocation, redistribution and stabilisation/development.
5. Characters, principles and functions of public budgeting and financial activity of territorial public entities.
6. The Harmonisation of Budgets and the European System of Public Accounts
7. Fiscal Policy and the General Balances of Public Finance
II. The State Budget: Planning, Decision-making and Implementation
1. The budget decision and the dialectic between Government and Parliament.
2. The Budget Process
3. The budget planning cycle in Italy and policy direction: Economic and Financial Document, DEF Update Note, Budget Planning Document
4. The procedure for drafting the Budget Law
5. The Parliamentary Budget Session and the Procedure for Approval of the State Budget
6. The Budget Law
7. The provisional budget exercise
8. The Laws connected to the budget manoeuvre
9. The Budget Adjustment Law and Variations in the Budget
10. Corrective Manoeuvres
11. The General State Accounts and the Judgment of Equalisation
12. Budgetary Management: Stages of Revenue and Expenditure
13. The payment schedule
14. Residual assets and liabilities
15. The Treasury Service
16. The administrative and accounting responsibility connected with the handling of public money
17. Internal and external controls on public finance acts and activities
III. Public revenues
1. Classification and taxonomy of revenue in the State budget.
2. Tax Revenue
3. Legal types of taxes and the criteria for allocating public expenditure
4. Constitutional tax principles: reservation of law, contributory capacity, tax progressivity
5. The tax system and the main taxes in Italy
6. Multilevel taxation and so-called fiscal federalism
7. The economic effects of taxes
8. The so-called extra-taxation
9. The extra-tax revenues. Public tariffs.
10. Revenues from alienation of patrimonial assets. The financial implications of the management of State property and assets.
11. The so-called parafiscality and the financing of the social security system
12. Borrowing and public debt.
IV. Public Debt and Budgetary Balance
1. General characteristics, structure and types of public debt
2. Causes and effects of public debt
3. History of Italian public debt
4. National regulation of government bonds
5. Fiscal Balance and Public Debt Sustainability
6. Constitutional limits to the indebtedness of the State, Regions and other public entities
7. Financial equilibrium as a parameter of constitutionality of laws
8. European public debt and fiscal rules
V. Public Expenditure
1. General characteristics, trends and composition of public expenditure in Italy
2. The planning and governance of public expenditure: classification, quantification, monitoring, efficiency and revision
3. Fiscal Expenditure
4. Expenditure Laws and the Relationship with the Budget Law
5. The constitutional principle of financial coverage of expenditure laws
6. The main means of coverage
7. The "rights that cost" and public expenditure as a guarantee of their effectiveness
8. Public expenditure and the protection of financial equilibrium in the case law of the Constitutional Court
VI. The supranational governance of public finances
1. The European Coordination of National Economic and Budgetary Policies
2. The European Stability and Growth Pact and its reform
3. The 'alert mechanism', enhanced surveillance procedures and the excessive macroeconomic imbalance procedure
4. The European Stability Mechanism (ESM)
5. Next Generation EU and EU debt
6. Money and Monetary Policy
7. The European Central Bank and the ordinary and unconventional instruments of monetary policy
8. The interrelations between fiscal and monetary policy in the case law of the EU Court of Justice
The Monographic Programme of the A.Y. 2024/2025 that will be covered during the lectures is devoted to:
"The Italian public debt and its sustainability".
Macro-topics IV and VI of the General Programme will be explored in particular.
The examination syllabus coincides with the topics covered in the lectures and with the topics dealt with in the texts suggested for the preparation of the examination (students who have attended in a previous academic year and intend to take the examination in the 2024/2025 academic year are invited to update their study on the basis of the 2024/2025 academic year study texts).
Non-attending students will study the monographic part by supplementing the reading of the suggested textbook with the reading of an additional text (see Texts/Bibliography section below).
Supplementary materials (regulations, jurisprudence) will be published on virtuale.unibo.it, the consultation of which is necessary for all (attending and nonattending students) in order to prepare for the examination, as well as any additions and updates to the study texts, in view of the legislative reforms in progress.
The programme for ERASMUS students is the same as that for Italian students.
NOTE FOR STUDENTS OF FINANCIAL LAW (A-L) teaching code 01621 of 7 cfu:
In the examination syllabus for students who include 7 cfu Financial Law (teaching code 01621) in their 5th year syllabus, macro-topic III (public revenues, except point no. 12) and points 6 to 8 of macro-topic VI are EXCLUDED. However, please contact the lecturer to agree on the parts of the textbook not to be studied.

Readings/Bibliography

For the preparation of the exam, the study of the following texts is suggested. The texts to be studied are differentiated for attending and non-attending students.

ATTENDING STUDENTS (at least 80% of lectures, 48 hours out of 60) prepare the exam on the following text (to be supplemented with lecture notes)

Andrea Mondini, Corso di diritto della finanza pubblica, Cedam-Wolters Kluwer, Milan, in the most recent commercially available edition. The 2021 edition must mandatorily be supplemented with the 2024 Update Appendix, available online at the publisher's website (https://shop.wki.it/libri/corso-di-diritto-della-finanza-pubblica-s748691/) and at virtuale.unibo.it. The textbook is to be studied in its entirety, except for chapter XVI.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS (who fail to attend at least 80% of the lectures, 48 hours out of 60) prepare the examination on the following texts:

1) Andrea Mondini, Corso di diritto della finanza pubblica, Cedam-Wolters Kluwer, Milan, in the most recent commercially available edition. The 2021 edition must compulsorily be supplemented with the 2024 Update Appendix, available online at the publisher's website (https://shop.wki.it/libri/corso-di-diritto-della-finanza-pubblica-s748691/) and at virtuale.unibo.it. The textbook should be studied in its entirety, with the exception of Chapter XVI.

2) Massimo Bordignon, Gilberto Turati, Debito pubblico. Come ci siamo arrivati e come sopravivvergli, Vita e Pensiero, Milan, 2022, the entire text (for the monographic part of the Programme)

7 ECTS STUDY PROGRAMME:
For students enrolled in the Degree Course in Employment and Business Relations Consultants who have opted for the 7 CFU Financial Law course (cod. 01621) the Handbook is to be studied in its entirety (including the 2024 UPDATE Appendix for those studying the 2021 edition) with the following exceptions (2021 edition): the following are only to be READ: Chapter I; par. 5.4.1. to 5.4.3. of Chapter V; par. 12.2 of Chapter XII. The following are NOT to be studied and may be omitted: Chapter VI (except paras. 6.3.5. and 6.3.6.); Chapter XV; Chapter XVI; paragraphs 2.1 to 2.3 and 4.6. of the Update Appendix.

The study texts for ERASMUS students are the same as for Italian students.

PLEASE NOTE for all students:

during the course of the lectures, supplementary teaching materials will be made available on the website https://virtuale.unibo.it to be consulted (regulatory texts, public finance and public accounting documents, judgments, diagrams, notes and in-depth studies of specific topics covered in the lectures). Guided reading paths of any new legislation in the field of public finance, not covered in the lecture notes and study texts, may be made available on the online teaching materials site.

Consultation of the main reference regulatory texts in the current version is required in any case: Italian Constitution, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Stability and Growth Pact Regulations, Law 196/2009, Law 243/2012

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons.

Attendance at lectures is recommended for a better understanding of the technical aspects of the subject.

The lessons will take place exclusively in face-to-face mode, except for the possibility of using the on-line mode only to deal with situations of need and/or emergency and in any case in compliance with the University guidelines.

The study of the manual and other teaching materials indicated in the appropriate section "Texts / Bibliography" corresponds to the examination program.

Assessment methods

REGISTRATION FOR EXAMINATIONS. Students must only use the Almaesami web platform. Enrolment closes strictly three days before the date of the exam. LATE REGISTRATIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED. Students already enrolled who no longer wish to sit the examination must cancel within the same deadline. A registered student who no longer wishes to take the examination, but has not cancelled in good time, must present himself on the day of the roll call to record his withdrawal. A student who, due to an impediment occurring after the deadline for unsubscribing from the list, is unable to appear to take the examination, must inform the lecturer by the starting time of the examination (also by e-mail).

CONDUCT OF THE EXAMINATIONS. The examination will mainly take place in oral and discursive form. The oral test may be organised in several consecutive daily rounds, depending on the number of students enrolled. Students registered for the test must all present on the first day of the roll call. Should the number of those present exceed the maximum number of students that can be examined by the Commission on the first day, the surplus students will be examined, according to the order in which they appear on the examination list, on subsequent days, which will be communicated to those present by the Commission.


CONDUCT OF THE INTERVIEW. During the interview, the Board of Examiners will ask the candidates questions (normally 3-4), of both a theoretical and practical nature, based on the notions and knowledge acquired through attending lectures and critically reading the study texts and teaching materials. The oral interview questions cover the topics indicated in the PROGRAMME AND CONTENTS section. In order to prepare for the exam, it is required to study the texts and readings indicated in the TEXTS/BIBLIOGRAPHY section and to consult the main legislation referred to in the texts and during the lectures. Amongst other things, the questions aim to check whether the student has learnt the notions relating to the legal institutes studied, whether he/she is able to explain through correct legal reasoning the main issues concerning the topics of study, whether he/she has acquired the argumentation skills necessary for the interpretation of the rules and for the analysis and solution of legal problems, and whether he/she is able to apply the knowledge acquired in a critical manner, also referring to the content of the rules, case law and doctrine.


ASSESSMENT. In particular, the awarding of the final mark will be carried out taking into consideration:

- the knowledge of institutional profiles
- the ability to make connections between the different parts of the programme;
- the articulation, accuracy and completeness of the exposition;
- the degree of learning and the ability to use the notions and technical terminology characterising the subject;
- the ability to frame the institutes, topics and problems proposed in a systematic manner, also taking into account the jurisprudential and doctrinal orientations
- the ability to develop adequate analyses of the proposed issues and critical arguments.

Purely by way of simplification, the award of the final mark will be based on the following criteria
- sufficient or slightly more than sufficient knowledge of the topics addressed, poor critical ability, difficulty in using technical-legal language → 18-21;
- fair knowledge of the topics covered, fair critical ability, acceptable use of technical and legal language → 22-24
- fair or fairly good knowledge of the subject matter, fair critical ability, good use of technical-legal language → 24-26
- good or more than good knowledge of the subject matter, good critical ability, good command of technical-legal language → 27-29
- substantially comprehensive knowledge of the topics covered, excellent critical ability, full and conscious command of technical-legal language → 30-30L.

Students taking the course for the first time in the academic year 2024/2025 (second semester) will be able to take the examination from the first examination session in May 2025.

In order for the thesis to be awarded, it is necessary to have already successfully taken the examination. The dissertation, if any, is awarded by the course lecturer, necessarily after the student has submitted a brief abstract of the dissertation project and undergone an interview with the lecturer.

Teaching tools

Through the platform "virtuale.unibo.it", the following tools may be made available to students

• readings, in-depth studies, lecture notes, slides, documents presented and discussed in the classroom during the lectures, as teaching materials to support exam preparation;
• optional tools to support the verification of learning on certain topics or parts of the programme (self-assessment questionnaires; tests of understanding of key concepts).

Students who, for reasons dependent on disabilities or specific learning disorders, require compensatory tools may inform the teacher of their needs so that they can be referred to the contact persons and the most appropriate measures can be agreed upon.

 

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Mondini