The Carabinieri Forestali change 'home' again: after the Environment they return to Agriculture

Carabinieri foresters, turnaround. They return, functionally speaking, under the umbrella of the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry. In the decree on emergencies for agriculture approved by the Council of Ministers in fact, the return of the Carabinieri forestry command (Cufa) under the Ministry of Agriculture is foreseen. The dossier is thus enriched with another chapter.

The first is the State Forestry Corps (acronym: C.F.S.). It is a civil-law police force of the Italian Republic, dependent on the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, with judicial and public security police functions, specialising in the defence of the agro-forestry heritage. Originating from the Royal Forestry Administration of the Kingdom of Sardinia, founded in 1822, the Corps is specialised in the defence of Italy's agro-forestry heritage, the protection of the environment and landscape, and the control of the safety of the agri-food chain. It contributes to the performance of public order and safety services, as well as to the control of the territory, with particular reference to rural and mountain areas. A 2015 law (number 124) concerning the reform of the public administration, gives the government the delegation to redetermine various aspects of public administration, including the possible reorganisation of the State Forestry Corps.

This happened in December 2016, when the Renzi government sanctioned the absorption of the State Forestry Corps into the Carabinieri, an armed force on permanent public security service, to which most of its functions, resources and personnel are devolved. With a measure dated 2016 (Legislative Decree 177, 'Provisions on the rationalisation of police functions and absorption of the State Forestry Corps'), the Commando unità forestali, ambientale e agroalimentari Carabinieri (CUFA) is established, headed by Army General, from which depend departments dedicated to performing special and highly specialised tasks in the field of environmental, land and water protection, as well as in the field of safety and controls in the agri-food sector, in support or with the support of the territorial organisation (the specific functions have been assigned to the Carabinieri Corps). The regulation provides that the Carabinieri Forestry, Environmental and Agri-Food Units Command is hierarchically dependent on the General Command of the Carabinieri Corps and functionally dependent on the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, without prejudice to the functional dependence on the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests of the Carabinieri Command for Agri-Food Protection. The absorption of functions and personnel of the State Forestry Corps ends on 31 December 2016, with the dissolution of the Corps. On 1 January 2017, the State Forestry Corps ceased to exist as an autonomous police force.

Now the last (at present) step: the decree on emergencies for agriculture. The relevant article is 161-ter ('Inspection personnel with agri-food police duties'). Without prejudice to the dependence of the Carabinieri Corps on the Chief of Defence Staff, says the nomination, through the general commander, for military tasks, and the functional dependence on the Minister of the Interior, for tasks related to the protection of public order and safety, the Forestry, Environmental and Agri-Food Units Command is functionally dependent on the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, without prejudice to the functional dependence on the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security of the Environmental Protection and Energy Security Command. The Forest, Environmental and Agro-Food Units Command is headed by an army corps general, who exercises high management, coordination and control functions with respect to the dependent commands, placed in surplus to the staff. The post of deputy commander of the Command is assigned to the General of Division in actual permanent service of the forestry role. And again: the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, in agreement with the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security and the Minister of Economy and Finance, defines the general strategic objectives of the Command in matters falling within the powers of the Ministries of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests and of the Environment and Energy Security.

At the press conference held at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Francesco Lollobrigida explained that 'in order to strengthen the role of the Carabinieri, in complete agreement with his colleague for the Environment Pichetto, we are bringing the functional dependencies back into the competence of the individual ministries'. This is yet another chapter in a story that may not be the last, also because the decision to sanction this umpteenth step with a decree-law, and therefore with a measure that should be adopted by the government in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency, does not convince everyone.