Autonomy, Calderoli tries to accelerate. But Rome is alarmed: “Thousands of posts in ministries at risk, a fatal blow”

Within a year, the revolution of federalism a la carte, that is, of differentiated autonomy, will be a reality. Word of the Minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomy, the Northern League Robert Calderoli, which dubbed itself the “caterpillar”. And therefore a “control room” will be launched during the maneuver to establish the essential levels of performance. The Lep are the condition for not making Italy a stew. These are the essential rights – from health care to education to infrastructure and transport – which must be guaranteed from Milan to Potenza, everywhere in the country, while the reform regionalises. And if the Lep are not launched in good time, in six months, by the “control room”, then a commissioner will take care of it.

Calderoli yesterday illustrated the mechanism in the Constitutional Affairs commission at Montecitorio. Another step towards the path of federalism that is so dear to the League. Calderoli reiterates: in a year we change. And it’s a fight. Pd, M5S and Sinistra-Verdi announce the barricades on merit and method. “Parliament cannot be expropriated, nor can Lep be made with dried figs, or without resources”: he says Pepe Provenzanothe number two of the Democratic Party, former Minister of Cohesion.

Rome’s alarm

He has calculated what federalism à la carte means in terms of organization of the state The messenger as regards the impact on the ministries and therefore on Rome: a drastic reduction in jobs, streamlined ministries, up to 20% fewer workers, for example, for that of Education. Moreover, the regionalization of the school is one of the most delicate keys, if differentiated autonomy really were to foresee that programs and school staff are managed by the Regions which will ask for federalism à la carte, with Veneto, Lombardy and Piedmont in the lead.

“Insisting on differentiated autonomy is harmful for Rome and Lazio. There is the risk of losing thousands of jobs with negative consequences on families and businesses, especially for the medium and small fabric. There is a risk of desertification of the capital”, he launches the alarm Alessio D’Amato, candidate of the Democratic Party for the presidency of the Lazio Region. “It is a provision that cannot pass”.

The clash in the committee

Provenzano accuses, in a question and answer with Calderoli in the commission, contesting the resources that do not exist and therefore a crystallization of the country’s inequalities: “You, Minister Calderoli, risk in practice changing the name of your ministry to the Ministry of Inequalities. The Parliament has not yet been able to examine the drafts under discussion”. And again: his seems to be a “re-edition of the secessionist spirit whereby a Region can, for example, define school programs, choose teachers perhaps on the basis of residence … thus undermining the founding principle of national unity”. Elly Schlein, candidate for the secretariat of the Democratic Party, defines the reform as “dangerous”. She says: “Minister, you didn’t convince me. You know how I think about the dangerous approach to this matter, about the attempt to override Parliament, about determining the essential levels of performance that deal with people’s fundamental rights, about access to healthcare , to the school”. He reiterated: “The novelty of the “control room” for the Lep is contrary to the Constitution, which requires us to discuss fundamental rights in Parliament. How do you think of mending the gaps and not dividing the country? The southern question is not of the Southern but national. You can get up if you take care to reach out to those who are struggling the most and not to those who run the most”. For the Third Pole, Mara Carfagna former minister of the South, defines the prospect as “a new filth” if the Lep have no resources available.

Raise Filiberto Zaratti of the Greens that article 143 of the maneuver (precisely on the “control room”) is really not right: “Differentiated autonomy is the “Spacca Italia” project, on which Parliament has not ruled because it has been ousted. The “control room” on the Lep, envisaged in the economic maneuver, even establishes that the minister becomes a commissioner for the definition of the essential levels of performance: as if the social and civil rights to be guaranteed to all Italian citizens, regardless of where they reside, are an administrative matter”.

Minister Calderoni confirms that, in the first half of 2023, we will start with the implementation of the third paragraph of article 116 of the Constitution, precisely differentiated autonomy, on the basis of agreements between the Regions that will request it and the State, and with the determination of the Lep.

Overall, one year before the reform takes effect, the costs and standard needs have been established. Calderoli declares that he has no intention of becoming commissioner if the “control room” fails. And he adds that the commissioner hopes it can only be a threat to enforce certain deadlines for the Lep who “will guarantee social and civil rights throughout Italy”. Parliament will then be fully involved: he assures. “Calderoli’s real goal is the commissioner”, denounces the grillina Carmella Auriemma in committee.