The Minister for Reforms Roberto Calederoli presented the draft bill on differentiated autonomy at the State-Region Conference. This was enough to raise tensions between the governors of the southern regions and those of the northern regions. The media minister and today 18 November will have a discussion with the premier Giorgia Meloni.
What does the draft on differentiated autonomy provide for?
At issue is the framework law which must define the framework for the agreements between the government and the individual Regions with which to transfer new functions precisely to the Regions. At stake is the list of 23 subjects that the constitutional reform of 2001 assigned to the concurrent jurisdiction between the State and the Regions: ranging from education to cultural heritage, from professions to infrastructure.
The knots on the table
In the draft of the bill – which Calderoli has downgraded to “working notes” – it is envisaged that the essential levels of performance are established (which the State must guarantee “on the whole national territory”) before proceeding with the direct agreement on the matters to be delegated to the Regions, but a term of one year is also set beyond which, if they are not approved by decree of the President of the Council, the functions can still be transferred to the Region: “the criterion of historical expenditure incurred by the administrations is applied government in the Region for the provision of the corresponding public services”. This is the main dispute, because – the governors of the South believe – the differences in the country would worsen, on fundamental issues, from education to health. In fact, the list of subjects that the Regions will be able to choose to deal with exclusively, borrowing them from the powers of the central State, from school to transport, up to foreign trade and justices of the peace, is long.
The positions
“It is a path that we must take together and no one will be harmed” assures Minister Calderoli. “There is not a rift between North and South, there is a fear of the South that someone is taking advantage against them. I hope – he reassures – that everyone can have an advantage, small or big, from this reform”. But doubts remain among the governors of the Democratic Party. “First they proposed secession, then fiscal federalism, now differentiated autonomy, it’s not like we can say that we trust them with certainty”, warns the president of Puglia Michele Emiliano. “It is impossible – he says – to imagine any path without starting from a framework law that establishes which matters may be the subject of an agreement. For example, it is excluded that school, energy or transport can be the subject of a delegation to the Regions. The risk is that of a Babel”. It is then contested, by the Pd and also by the M5s, that the draft limits the role of Parliament, providing for “only one role of ratification”.
From Veneto to Tuscany, who has already left
In Veneto and Lombardy, where the referendums were also held, the Northern League governors Zaia and Fontana have already made the request for all 23 subjects. The president of Liguria, Giovanni Toti, joined immediately after asking for port responsibilities. That of Tuscany Eugenio Giani (Pd) claims cultural heritage and geothermal energy. The dem governor of Emilia Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, who is among the oldest supporters of differentiated autonomy, however believes that “precise conditions” are needed: “a framework law, which defines the essential levels of performance, standard needs and historic expenditure, and then the involvement of Parliament”. Even the prozista Roberto Occhiuto, governor of Calabria, sets limits: equal rights for all and that “the unfair criterion of historical expenditure to finance these rights should be archived”.