“This government wants promote the start-up of the autonomy differentiated soon“, recently said the prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni. And he defended: “Greater autonomy for the regions aims to improve the efficiency and quality of services, not to create inequality between citizens“. Meloni decided to confront one of the most difficult issues in the Italian political debate: the request of some Italian regions to have greater autonomous powers to the detriment of the central state. A debate that today, like never before, is on the agenda of an Italian government.
It is a request that it has been around for a long time in Italy. Abandoned (it seems) the old yearning for secessionis what the far-right League has been requesting for years Matteo Salvini, today Meloni’s most important partner within the transalpine government. So much so that the request was also included in the electoral program with which the center-right coalition won the last elections in the transalpine country.
The new Italian Minister of Regional Affairs, Roberto Calderolihas already presented a draft of the reform Y has said that the bill will be approved in 2023. According to this document, the objective is amend articles 116 and 117 of the Constitution Italian, which provide that new forms of autonomy can be granted at the “initiative of the region concerned”.
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Some initiatives that in recent years have multiplied. In fact, the first three regions that activated the process of requests in 2017 for greater autonomy to the central State were Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Lombardy. The first is a region administered by the center-left, the other two by the League. But later Other regions have joined these They have also been interested in obtaining greater autonomous powers. Among them, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, The Marches, Basilicata, Apulia and Campania.
In Italy, there are 23 competencies that each region can claim to manage. However, not all regional entities want to manage them all. This is only the case of Lombardy and Veneto, two territories in which five years ago it was even held a referendum in which citizens They endorsed this request. But Liguria has only asked to manage its transport networks. Apulia and Campania, only their own sanitary systems. And Tuscany has requested the management of its cultural assets.
The novelty compared to the past is that previously any reflection on this matter caused chills in centralist parties like brothers from italy, the formation of Meloni. But now It starts to seem like something not only possible but, to a certain extent, something that is desired. And this also because although the League is the main sponsor of the claim, today the matter It is neither left nor right. An example of this is precisely the case of the progressive Emilia Romagna, who has been one of the most active in promoting her request.
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Of course, detractors there are also. And the reason is the same as always: that this proposal, which could change the face of Italy, affecting in particular the poorest regions of southern Italy. Meloni has promised it won’t happen. This reform “will never be a pretext to leave part of the territory behind,” said the far-right. But even so, the doubts of the analysts are multiple. The match of Silvio Berlusconi, Forza Italy (third partner of the Government of Meloni), has expressed concern, and several regional governors have also rebelled publicly.
For example. The one from Apulia, Michele Emiliano, said that the proposal does not respect the Italian Constitutionwhile the one from Campania, Vincenzo de Luca, has affirmed that what at stake is the unity of the country. Other voices have denounced that they are at risk basic levels of healthcare due to citizens. “A reform like this can only be unfair,” said Giancarlo Viesti, an economist at the University of Bari. Hence, surprises (and possible reversals) are not yet ruled out.