Differentiated autonomy: what the law provides, from minimum standards to implementation timeframes

The ddl on the differentiated autonomy of ordinary statute regions is a purely procedural law to implement the reform of the Title V of the Constitution put in place in 2001. With the second and final yes to the ddl, the Chamber of Montecitorio has dismissed the measure - with 172 yes votes, 99 against and 1 abstention - which is now law. In 11 articles it defines the legislative and administrative procedures for the application of the third paragraph of Article 116 of the Constitution. This involves defining the agreements between the State and those Regions that ask for differentiated autonomy in the 23 subjects indicated in the measure. After the Senate's approval of the Calderoli bill, Montecitorio also gave the final go-ahead. Here are the main points.

Requests for Autonomy start at the initiative of the regions themselves, after consultation with the local authorities. There are 23 subjects, including health protection. Then there are, among others, Education, Sports Environment, Energy, Transport, Culture and Foreign Trade. Fourteen are the subjects defined by the Lep, Livelli Essenziali di Prestazione (Essential Performance Levels).

The granting of one or more 'forms of autonomy' is subordinate to the determination of the Lep, i.e. the criteria that determine the minimum level of service that must be guaranteed - it is specified in the text - in a uniform manner throughout the national territory. The determination of the standard costs and requirements, and therefore of the LEPs, will be based on a reconnaissance of the State's historical expenditure in each Region over the last three years.

Article 4, amended in the Senate Chamber by an FdI amendment, establishes the principles for the transfer of functions to the individual regions, specifying that it will be granted only after the Lep have been determined and within the limits of the resources made available in the budget law. Therefore, without Lep and their financing, which must also be extended to the regions that do not request devolution, there will be no Autonomy.

Composed of all the competent ministers, assisted by a technical secretariat, located at the Department for Regional Affairs and Autonomies of the Prime Minister's Office, the steering committee will have to provide for a reconnaissance of the regulatory framework in relation to each administrative function of the state and ordinary regions, and for the identification of the subjects or areas of subjects referable to the LEP on civil and social rights that must be guaranteed throughout the national territory.