Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale italiana), No. 239/2018, 25 October 2018

4% bar for elections to the European Parliament.

Article 1, paragraph 2, Constitution
Art. 3, Constitution
Art. 48, paragraph 2, Constitution
Art. 21, paragraph 1, Law n. 18, 24/01/1979

1. The 4% barrier laid down by the Italian legislation on elections to the European Parliament is not declared unreasonable, since it appears to serve the objective of rationalising the organisation of the assembly, a requirement no less worthy than that of the stability of the government, in view of the decision-making functions of the assembly and of the risks connected with the paralysis of its activity as a result of the impossibility or excessive difficulty of forming the necessary majorities, as well as the undoubted transformation into a parliamentary form of government in the European Union. The choice made by the Italian legislature does not therefore exceed the limits of the discretion conferred on it in regulating electoral matters.
(The questions of constitutionality - raised by the Consiglio di Stato with reference to Articles 1, second paragraph, 3 and 48, second paragraph, of the Constitution - of Articles 21, first paragraph, and 48, second paragraph, of the Constitution, are declared unfounded. - of articles 21, first paragraph, n. 1-bis) and n. 2), in the text resulting from the law n. 10 of 2009, and 22 of the law n. 18 of 1979, which provide for the barrier threshold of 4% fixed for the access to the proportional distribution of the seats in the elections of the members of the European Parliament pertaining to Italy).