Unusually among European constitutions, the Italian Constitution provides not just for formal equality, but in Article 3, paragraph 2 also places the state under a duty to intervene on the basis of substantive equality, to remove obstacles to the effective participation of workers in the political, social and economic organisation of the country. A more specific anti-discrimination provision is contained in the Statute of Workers' Rights of 1970. The tension between the social democratic ideal of equality in terms of redistribution of income, and more recent, market-orientated conceptions of equality of opportunity, is present in doctrinal debates and in the evolution of case law. The equality principle is likely to retain its importance in part because its meaning is capable of shifting over time, so as to adjust to new political and economic conditions.
International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations