Autore
Grasso, Giorgio

Titolo
Rating dei debiti sovrani e diritto costituzionale
Periodico
Quaderni costituzionali
Anno: 2015 - Fascicolo: 1 - Pagina iniziale: 87 - Pagina finale: 112

This article analyses the role of credit rating agencies and their relationship with Constitutionsduring the global financial crisis. Credit rating agencies play an important role inthe debt market, as their credit ratings are used by investors, borrowers, issuers and governmentsin order to make informed investment and financing decisions. During the recent financialand economic crisis, rating agencies and, above all, the «three big sisters» (Moody's,Standard & Poor's and Fitch) that control around 95% of the global ratings market, areconsidered to have failed to signal early enough the worsening conditions of the marketand to adjust their credit ratings following the deepening of the crisis (see Regulation(EU) n. 1060/2009). In particular, the paper examines the sovereign credit ratings, that isthe credit ratings where the entity rated - the issuer of the debt or financial obligation - isa State, a regional or local authority of a State, or an international organization created bythe State. Sovereign credit ratings show deficiencies and potential conflicts with variousbasic notions of constitutional law (such as State's sovereignty and fundamental rights protection).The publication of sovereign ratings deeply affects the credibility of States, but therating agencies remain completely unaccountable, even if their ratings have often provento be inaccurate. Constitutionalism, which is configured as a limit to the exercise of politicalpower, cannot ignore these new forms of influence, aggravated by today's economic crisis- forms of power that cannot longer be qualified as simply «political», but that have alsobecome «economic» and «financial». In this regard, the aim of this article is to advocatethat there cannot be power without responsibility, and that this principle should also applyto some of the most powerful actors in the age of globalization, like credit rating agencies.



SICI: 0392-6664(2015)1<87:RDDSED>2.0.ZU;2-I
Testo completo: http://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.1439/79161
Testo completo alternativo: http://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1439/79161

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