Monday 16 October 2023 the conference took place in Rome “Environment, Differentiated Autonomy, Constitution”organized by WWF Italia and sponsored by the ISSiRFA-CNR and ISLE Institutes, to reflect on the bill on differentiated autonomy (A.S. 615) being examined by the Senate and on the questions and proposals that arise from considering the protection of the environment a value of fundamental right of the person and of fundamental interest of the community.
On the topic of differentiated autonomy, WWF Italy has drawn up a position paper which reiterates what has already been expressed in observation document filed during the hearing at the Institutional Affairs Committee of the Senate in May 2023. The document draws attention to the environmental risks inherent in the bill, with the danger of seeing a worsening and fragmentation of the level of environmental protection and nature. WWF Italy also notes that:
the procedures with which the matters over which the State and Regions have joint regulatory competence (i.e. “concurrent legislation”) are treated must be different from those over which the State has exclusive legislative competence, among which there is the protection of the environment, of the ecosystem and cultural heritage. the multiplication of environmental protection responsibilities at a decentralized level risks compromising the environmental protection guarantees valid throughout the country, favoring “asymmetric regionalism”; a reflection on differentiated autonomy and modification of the art is appropriate. 9 of the Constitution, to verify whether the protection of the environment and biodiversity, moving from a constitutional matter to fundamental principle of the Constitutionmaintains the same possibility of being transferred to the Regions in the same terms that had been indicated before the change which occurred in 2022.
The conference opened with an introductory speech from the WWF by Gaetano Benedetto (President of the Study Center, WWF Italy) e Ilaria Scarpetta (Institutional Affairs Contact, WWF Italy). Then jurists such as intervened Giovanni Maria Flick (President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court), Antonio of Athens (Emeritus Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata), Giulio Maria Salerno (Director ISSiRFA-CNR), Mario Bertolissi (Environment and Energy Subgroup Coordinator, LEP Committee), Marco Welcome (Prof. of Public Law Institutions, University of Rome La Sapienza), Luigi Ferrajoli (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Law, Roma Tre University) as well as an expert in nature conservation Simona Castaldi (Professor of Ecology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) e Stefano Laporta (President of ISPRA), while the conclusions were entrusted to Luciano di TizioPresident of WWF Italy.
From the conference it emerged that differentiated autonomy risks fragmenting environmental policies on the national territory, and consequently weakening Italy in the European and international context due to failure to respect the constraints deriving from community law and give it international obligations. It was recalled, in fact, that the litigation on the environment generated by the Regions or to which they contribute is high: the environment is at the forefront of the infringement procedures (15 out of 80) opened by the European Commission towards Italy on matters such as the Natura 2000 network, air quality, waste water, waste.
Furthermore, concern has been expressed about the definition of Essential Performance Levels (Lep) entrusted to a Committee established by the Government: in particular, the difficulty of defining them within the deadline given to the Committee (end of October) and the lack of naturalistic experts in the Committee itself was highlighted.