Istalia

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Regions reform approved: autonomous regional statutes and subsidiarity redefine their role and competences

The Congress approves the constitutional law with a broad and transversal majority and Giunio scores a historic political victory which generate a storm among the opposition: the New Communists and the Alliance of Autonomies in the corner

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September 5652

ROMULA — The National Congress has definitively approved the constitutional law for the reform of autonomies. The measure, wanted by the Giunio government and the result of a long and complex parliamentary debate, rewrites the relationship between the central State and the regions, introducing a new structure based on the principle of subsidiarity and recognizing the possibility for regional bodies to adopt their own statutes, independently regulate the organization of their bodies, and define the times, methods and forms of regional elections.

The reform, although inspired by the guidelines presented by the government at the beginning of the year, has been deeply enriched and modulated in the parliamentary debate. The result is a law shared by a large political majority, which has guaranteed the necessary qualified majority for the revision of the Constitution.

The key elements of the new law are:

• Autonomous regional statutes, with constitutional value, which will allow each region to determine its own legislative and administrative competences in areas not expressly reserved to the State;
  
• Election and composition of regional bodies left to the regions themselves, which will be able to choose between parliamentary, presidential, council, mixed models, etc.;
  
• Definition of essential levels of performance (LEP) guaranteed by the State, to avoid disparities in access to fundamental rights (health, education, social services);
  
• Financial equalization mechanisms, requested by the Democratic Socialists and large sectors of the Greens, to correct the imbalances between richer and less developed regions;
  
• Strengthening the role of the regions in territorial economic planning, with greater margins for intervention in the sectors of local development, infrastructure and regional welfare;
  
• A system of ex-post and not ex-ante control by the central State, the result of a compromise between the PNL and D&L, which has ensured that the regions enjoy true autonomy but remain accountable to the general system.
  

The National Liberal Party has thus been able to obtain the heart of its original proposal: an autonomy functional to the relaunch of administrative efficiency and territorial self-responsibility. On the other hand, the opposition parties in favor, most of the Democratic Socialists and the Greens, have managed to include guarantees and corrections that make the reform sustainable also in terms of social equity and national cohesion.

However, not everyone has welcomed the approval of the law favorably. The New Communists and the Alliance of Autonomies have voted unanimously against, at least officially. In fact, a deep internal fracture has occurred within the ranks of the Alliance, with some parliamentarians breaking party discipline by voting in favor of the reform. An act that has opened an internal crisis in the autonomist movement, which now risks a political hemorrhage and a heavy loss of consensus.

The Secretary of the Alliance, Bruno Zorelin, thundered furiously:

It is a fake reform, a tool to divide Alaria rather than recognize its political unity, but some of our people have preferred to support the government, betraying the mandate of the Alaria people!

The tensions have already led to the resignation of some leaders and to the concrete possibility of a split in the party.

The New Communists also emerged isolated from the vote, and according to some recent polls they risk paying a high political price. Their position of total opposition to the reform, motivated by the fear of growing regional inequalities, has appeared to many voters and commentators as ideological and rigid, especially in light of the changes introduced in parliament precisely to protect territorial balance.

Despite this, the hard core of the party attacks PSD and MdV:

It's unfortunate the position taken by our allies, they preferred to legitimize the reform by talking about responsibility but in reality gifting the center-right another parliamentary victory and probably also an electoral one.

For the Minister Secretary of State Valeriano Giunio, it is indeed a political victory of great importance that will perhaps be decisive in proving the fears of the communists right. The reform is seen by many analysts as a very hard blow particularly  for the autonomist forces, and in particular for the Alarian nationalists, which may not be able to recover from the internal shock caused by the split.

The government, in the meantime, is preparing for the implementation phase: the approval of the law now opens the way to a season of writing regional statutes, which will engage the regional councils in the coming years and will redesign, piece by piece, the political and institutional structure of the Imperial State.