Because premiership and differentiated autonomy are sides of the same coin

At first reading, Parliament approved the direct election of the Prime Minister and definitively autonomy.Among the concerns of critics, there are also those about the environment.

• Field week for institutional reforms in Italy:first approval for the direct election of the Prime Minister, definitive green light for differentiated autonomy.
• The first reform centralizes power in the hands of the prime minister, while the second delegates it to the Regions:it would seem like a contradiction but they are the two faces of the same majority.
• Among the concerns of critics, also those on the environment:How do you protect the same habitat with different rules from one region to another?

The current one will be remembered as the week in which political power, in Italy, becomes more centralized and, at the same time, also more decentralized.It might seem like a paradox, and in part it actually is, but it's exactly like this:in fact, in the same week, or rather after just a few hours, the Senate approved the first reading bill on premiered, or on the direct election of the Prime Minister, which will give the next prime minister greater credentials and powers than they have had so far.

Premiership and differentiated autonomy, so different, so equal

The Chamber, immediately afterwards, instead fired - definitively - the bill ondifferentiated autonomy, which will also allow the ordinary statute Regions to enjoy much broader decision-making powers than in the past.These two measures, although distinct, are connected and represent a crucial phase for the country, as well as the two sides of the same coin, or rather of the same majority.

The bill on the premiership

The bill on the premiership, developed by the Minister for Institutional Reforms Elisabetta Casellati, aims at the direct election of the Prime Minister.After riots and discussions, the Senate voted with 109 yes, 77 no and only one abstention:the German-speaking South Tyrolean senator, Meinhard Durnwalder, who said he was "concerned about the centralization of powers towards the central government, which could harm the linguistic minorities I represent".Direct election of the Prime Minister, abolition of the figure of senators for life, lowering of the quorum for the election of the Head of State no longer at the third but at the sixth ballot, but above all weakening of the role of the President of the Republic, much more constrained in dissolving the Chambers and entrusting new tasks to form a government:these are the main innovations present in the reform of the premiership, which the current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has defined as a "first step forward that strengthens democracy".

The opposition has a completely different opinion, calling for a demonstration in the square in Rome to protest not only against the premiership, but also against differentiated autonomy, which goes in the opposite direction, that of decentralization, but which is part of the same package of institutional reforms.To the point that the centre-left parties have explicitly spoken of "exchange" or even "barter" within the majority, in which Brothers of Italy, who has always had a more centralist vision of the State, would have taken home the premiership, leaving in exchange for Alloy, born with secessionist positions which then faded into federalism, the autonomy of the Regions.

The law on differentiated autonomy

The law on differentiated autonomy, designed by minister Roberto Calderoli, was approved definitively (because it is not a constitutional decree and therefore does not require a double parliamentary passage) in the Chamber with 172 yes, 99 against and 1 abstention a few hours after the premiership, probably to the happiness of Senator Durnwalder:the provision grants greater autonomy to the Italian regions, allowing them to manage responsibilities on various subjects (including healthcare, but also the environment) in a differentiated way compared to the central government, and above all to be able to dispose of the tax revenues generated in their territory.Which means, for critics of the reform, that the richer regions will automatically have more money to spend than the poorer ones, and that therefore the gap between north and south will automatically increase, splitting the country.Among the cons of the law, at the moment, there is also the fact that, although foreseen, the essential levels of performance which will have to be provided in all regions, even those that will not make use of autonomy.

Among those most concerned about the implementation of differentiated autonomy are, in these hours, also the representatives of environmentalist associations, because the law will also impact on environmental protection. The WWF for example, he underlines that having two neighboring regions that share natural elements such as woods, rivers, wildlife and water tables using different rules risks causing major inconsistencies in the management of territories, compromising the conservation of species and habitats.