Brevi riflessioni in tema di natura giuridica ed efficacia degli accordi interistituzionali alla luce del Trattato di Nizza

ABSTRACT This paper deals with the legal value of interinstitutional agreements. This area is receiving renewed attention from scholars thanks to an explicit mention of these types of agreements in the Declaration adopted by the intergovernmental Conference attached to the Treaty of Nice. Growing research by community institutions with more flexible forms of collaboration inter se , as per inter-institutional agreements, beyond the more classical institutional context and with no precise legal foundations in specific provisions of the Treaty, is witnessing the significance of the problem in relation to the legal validity of these agreements. This article gives some brief outlines for reflection on this matter, starting with an attempt to classify the different kinds of interinstitutional agreements. It also reports on the path that the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Communities has already followed in this field.