The majority is (once again) proposing the reopening of the 2003 tax amnesty

The building amnesty – which had already been rejected before Christmas – is making a comeback. On the new Consolidated Building Act – the bill through which the government aims to rewrite the rules and authorisation requirements for the construction sector – part of the ruling majority is once again pushing for the most divisive aspect. They are doing so by tabling two amendments (and a series of further amendments) during the debate in the Chamber of Deputies’ Environment Committee, where the enabling bill on the ‘rationalisation and reorganisation of administrative building and town-planning regimes and related planning permissions’ is currently under consideration, already approved by the government, endorsed by the National Audit Office and signed by the Head of State. A text which, during its lengthy preparatory process, had seen the very possibility of reopening cases relating to building irregularities ruled out, as it was considered too sensitive from a political and legal standpoint.

But now the majority is trying again: provisions that reignite the debate on amnesties have reappeared amongst the parliamentary amendments. The first front has been opened by Forza Italia. An amendment signed by MPs Annarita Patriarca and Piergiorgio Cortelazzo proposes to address the outstanding applications from the 2003 amnesty, the one provided for under Article 32 of Decree-Law 269 of the Berlusconi government.

The legislation aims, first and foremost, to speed up the processing of applications relating to the 2003 amnesty. It also provides for a retrospective amendment: the text would extend the application of the amnesty – which previously applied only to works completed ‘by 31 March 2003’ – to include ‘properties built in areas subject to relative building restrictions’. It should be noted, in this regard, that the 2003 amnesty had extremely limited application in restricted areas.

It is then pointed out that this amnesty was not applied by the Campania Region (a decision examined by the Constitutional Court in 2004). To remedy this shortcoming, provision is made for ‘the possibility of reopening the deadlines for the submission of new applications’. This reopening, however, applies not only to Campania but to the whole of the country.

The issue of amnesty is a slippery slope that has always divided politicians, local authorities and environmentalists. The majority are well aware of this; indeed, the issue had been left out of the original text precisely to avoid a head-on clash and to prevent rifts within the governing coalition itself. But the amendments tabled by the ‘Azzurri’ are not the only ones to bring the issue back to the fore. The list of amendments to the text also includes one from the Lega, signed by Dario Giagoni, Gianpiero Zinzi, Alessandro Benvenuto, Giulio Centenaro, Elisa Montemagni and Graziano Pizzimenti, amongst others, which addresses the issue of unauthorised land subdivisions.