The president of the regional council, Roberto OcchiutoThursday evening he was a guest on the program “Piazza Pulita” on La7. During the episode he started from the disastrous situation of the Calabrian health care to get to discussing differentiated autonomy. The premise was that the regions enjoy maximum autonomy precisely on health care. Moreover. The president of the Gimbe Foundation, Nino Cartabellottahe explained how healthcare is a laboratory of autonomy where, for example, they have experimented the Leas where today we talk about Lep (essential performance levels).
Roberto Occhiuto said, as he has been repeating for some time, that he is not prejudicially opposed to autonomy, on the contrary as president of a southern region he has said he is ready to take up this challenge and not from behind the lines. However, he reiterated, the Constitution places a series of rights upon the State, but also a series of obligations. In particular those envisaged by article 119 “The law of the State establishes an equalization fund, without restrictions on destination, for territories with lower fiscal capacity per inhabitant”.
Differentiated autonomy | Occhiuto: «The problem is historical spending, resources cannot go only to those who already have»
So for Occhiuto autonomy can be achieved, provided that the Lep are guaranteed throughout Italy. The problem is where to find the resources to guarantee all Italian cities, for example, a suitable number of nursery schools, an efficient transport system, decent infrastructure. According to the deputy of the Democratic Party, Francesco Boccia, also present in the broadcast, to guarantee the country uniform conditions on transport, education, health and welfare, an investment of between 80 and 100 billion would be needed. At least this is the calculation made by Parliament. Where to find this money when the State has serious difficulties in covering some budget items?
A good question that has no answer, however in Calderoli’s proposal. The law speaks generically of State resources, but without identifying which ones and how many.
“Calderoli should answer this question,” he says Holy Blond, secretary Uil Calabria – because there are no specific references in the law. Indeed there is a sort of return to the origins of the League because the last article of this law speaks of economies to be achieved by the regions that I have to spend better by eliminating waste. In short, a sort of revision of the old “thief rome” which evidently speaks to the belly of the Carroccio».
According to Biondo, however, the solution exists and is enshrined in another state law42 of 2009, the so-called law on fiscal federalism. The law provides for the establishment of a defined equalization fund which is implemented through the tax residue. Basically, the difference between how much a region collects and how much it spends to guarantee the Lep ends up in this fund to ensure that even the weakest regions can finance essential services. However, none of this is mentioned in Calderoli’s bill, now awaiting the process in Parliament.
«It is not necessarily a rule in favor of the southern regions – explains Biondo – just think that Campania has a much higher tax revenue than that of Liguria. However, we need to get out of the current debate which is all ideological and sees an efficient North opposed to a wasteful South. The problem is technical, not political. It must therefore be approached from this point of view unless you want to make simple propaganda. The theme, on the other hand, in a country that is already running at two speeds is how the design of a nation of solidarity can be achieved. For this reason, the matter of the residual tax must enter into the discussion, because this is the instrument that will have to contribute to financing the equalization fund through other state resources».
The matter is certainly complex because it ends up involving various technical aspects ranging from constitutional law to public finance. Not always popular topics. At the same time, however, it is a matter that directly impacts the quality of life of citizens. This is why it is worth tackling this discussion, possibly without ideological filters.