Towards a “war” between Regions and the battlefield, exclusively legal, will be the Constitutional Court. Yes because “if Sardinia appeals against the law the Government does not need defense lawyers, it will defend itself before the Constitutional Court, but Veneto thinks it is absolutely damaged by an appeal that would prevent us from starting a path of Autonomy. So, we will appear before the Constitutional Court to oppose Sardinia’s appeal.” said the president of Veneto, Luca Zaiacommenting on the announcement by the Sardinia Region to appeal against the application of the Calderoli law. On August 21, just when the collection of signatures against the law has already reached half a millionthe news has arrived following the example of the Apuliaeven the Sardinia had chosen to challenge the law before the Constitutional Court: the 55-page resolution containing the appeal was approved on Wednesday by the island’s regional council, led by the Five Star Movement Alessandra Todde.
Sardinia, Puglia, Tuscany –With Sardinia and Puglia also Tuscany. Which has filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court against the law for the implementation of differentiated autonomy because it believes that contradicts the spirit of the Italian Constitution. “Tuscany – explained the governor Eugenio Giani – has presented an appeal based on 12 points: the main one is the fact that in my opinion Calderoli’s law contradicts the spirit of Article 116 of the Constitution, because it identifies a very broad series of matters in a general way” and “therefore the Regions with this law become Regions with special statutes like those that already exist. So here we are talking about ‘Spacca Italia.’ Instead – argues Giani – Article 116 of the Constitution asks for ‘particular’ forms of autonomy, that is, reading in each region what is specific and that can be managed autonomously. In Tuscany, for example, cultural heritage, geothermal energy, lake areas of national interest such as the Orbetello Lagoon, the archipelago, that is, a wealth of many islands that require specific management”.
Governor Giani –Giani then highlighted another aspect of the law on differentiated autonomy contested by Tuscany, namely “the lack of involvement of the Regions in the procedure that led to the approval of the law” but also “the risk that the law itself could lead to theelimination of all concurrent legislative power and that adequate forms of involvement of Parliament to protect national unity are not ensured or, in any case, foreseen. Other objections, contained in the appeal, concern the principles and guiding criteria for the exercise of the legislative delegation aimed at determining the Lep, essential levels of performance”.
The Lep and the appeal – Professor Andrea Pertici, lawyer and professor of constitutional law at the University of Pisa, who collaborated with the regional legal office for the appeal, focused on the determination of the Lep (essential levels of performance). “The law – he said – provides that they are only identified and not financed or guaranteed, as would be appropriate. Added to this is the question of theextra revenue and equalization fundor, provided for by 119 of the Constitution, a fund established precisely to guarantee all regions fundamental rights. The law seems to maintain an ever-increasing extra revenue for some to the detriment of others, without ensuring a balance; all this – he concludes – could trigger a sort of race for differentiated autonomy to gain greater advantages”. For the president of the Regional Council of Tuscany, Antonio Mazzeo, “after the request for a referendum advanced by the Regional Councils and the over 500 thousand signatures of citizens to repeal differentiated autonomy, today the battle against this law that divides Italy is enriched by Tuscany’s appeal to the Consulta. A useful initiative parallel to the referendum, to stop an unjust law, which increases inequalities and creates 20 small, weaker and more fragile Italies”.
