Gian Candido De Martin

Through the authentic actuation of the constitutional reform of 2001 it is possible to realize a real tidy-up of the Republican institutions, promoting the autonomist perspective of article 5 of the Italian Constitution. Article 5 of the Constitution, as known, implies growing responsibilities for the territorial autonomies in a system centred on the principle of subsidiariety. This actuation process needs to start and develop in a double direction. First of all, clarifying competences (and respective resources) to be considered as fundamental and belonging to municipalities and provinces. This process must be implemented by avoiding possible centralisms (both of the State and of the Regions) but granting the inalienable national needs. In second place, the actuation process requires an authentic cooperation in between all subjects involved. This cooperation needs to be realized in a mature and pluralistic democracy contest able to overcome those obstacles that in the past have restrained, if not forbidden, administrative and normative decentralization attempts. What is in doubt, though, is that these conditions (that are essentially cultural) will effectively be present.

After the constitutional reform of 2001, the new statutes of the (ordinary) regions should offer a greatly renewed institutional frame of reference. The changes also affect the administrative role and organisational choices of the regions, allowing a correct application of the principles set out in art. 118 Cost. This should ensure a system of distributing administrative functions that is as decentralised as possible. It will be necessary to evaluate the autonomous local councils so the regions are left with only those functions which can not be broken down, or are matters of coordination or high level administration. This should bring about a drastic reduction of regional agencies whose work is often involved with local authorities' roles. However, the statutes which have been approved so far have mostly maintained a strongly centralising character with a not proper administrative role for the regions and a clear tendency to regional-centrism. In addition, the statutes have given scarce attention to «even-handed» either procedural or structural relations between regions and local councils.