Autonomy, Calderoli and Fontana signed the pre-agreement for Lombardy

The Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies Roberto Calderoli and the President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana have signed the pre-agreement on Autonomy concerning the transfer of functions in four areas: civil protection, professions, supplementary and supplementary pensions and the part of the health sector that concerns the coordination of public finance. The signature arrived at the Palazzo Lombardia in Milan, seat of the regional government. In the morning the same pre-understanding had been signed by Calderoli with the president of Veneto Luca Zaia. On Wednesday, the other two regions involved: Liguria and Piedmont.

The pre-agreement concerns the transfer of the first four subjects for which the definition of LEPs is theoretically not foreseen, i.e. those subjects for which the prior identification of the essential levels of performance on civil and social rights that must be guaranteed throughout the national territory is not required.

'The objective is to conclude the fiscal federalism phase on which we are discussing and which has March 2026 as its deadline, it is a milestone of the NRP. Either we bring it home or we skip the instalment of 32 billion and 600 million,' Calderoli said after signing the pre-agreements on autonomy with the Lombardy Region at Palazzo Lombardia in Milan

The League has been pressing for the signature for months. In the end, the Carroccio won because the agreement between the leaders was to sign the pre-agreements after the regional elections in order to meet the concerns of Fratelli d'Italia and Forza Italia related to the fact that on 23 and 24 November there will also be votes in Campania and Puglia, regions where differentiated autonomy does not have great appeal.

But the perplexities of the two allies remain on the merits: the sanitary fronts on which the League would like to intervene, i.e. personnel and salaries, are exclusive state competence. What's more: in Constitutional Court ruling 192 of 2024, which effectively dismantled the Calderoli law, it is clearly stated that the distinction between Lep and non-Lep matters makes no logical or legal sense. And whenever a differentiated function concerns a civil or social right, this requires the state to establish the relevant Lep before devolution. If we look at the subjects covered by the agreements announced by Calderoli, the fundamental rights involved are more than one: security, health, individual freedom, freedom of enterprise, the right to welfare. In short, agreement or no agreement, it is still necessary to wait for the definition of the Lep. And the delegated law, rewritten to take into account the Consultation's stakes, has not yet begun the process in the Senate. And again: the subject 'professions' is one of those 'whose transfer is, in principle, difficult to justify' because it is now engraved in European law.