This is how Parliament was flooded with 165 decrees in just five years

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Since the beginning of the legislature last October, 19: 18 have already been launched by the Meloni government, which also inherited the last one conceived by the Draghi executive. A trend in line with the previous legislature, during which 146 materialized, of which 62 always with the “Draghi seal”. The decree-laws have been used massively by the latest governments that have followed one another at Palazzo Chigi, also due to the succession of various emergencies such as the pandemic or the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: in less than five, Parliament is been inundated with 165 urgent measures. But now the DLs are becoming a case. And not only because the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has put black and white some detailed remarks in promulgating the law converting the Milleproroghe decree, targeting the decision to extend the beach concessions and trusting in the intention expressed by the Meloni executive at the beginning of his mandate to bring the emergency decree back within the constitutional limits. Already a few days before the solicitations expressed by the head of state, the Legislation Committee of the Chamber, in expressing its opinion on the “Milleproroghe”, had recommended to the legislator to start a reflection on the phenomenon of emergency decree also to «avoid forms of “interweaving” between several decrees simultaneously with the examination of the Chambers». In other words, the Chambers are calling for a stop to the “confluences” of a decree-law into another decree-law.

Since October 2022, 19 decree laws have been passed: 18 by Meloni

In just over four months of this first part of the legislature, which began in mid-October 2022, 19 decree laws have already been passed, including the one on the temporary protection of people arriving from Ukraine, which was approved by the Council of Ministers of the February 23rd. Almost all of them, 18, have been developed by the current government, which has also “managed” the last urgent measure inherited from the Draghi executive (“Aiuti ter”). With the green light from the Chambers to the “Milleproroghe” there are 10 Meloni-registered DLs that have crossed the finish line of conversion into law. Some of these urgent measures have been “transferred” into other decrees. On 13 February, the Studies service of the Chamber noted 2 decree laws that had lapsed because they had been repealed with the consequent passage of their content to other provisions through amendments approved during the parliamentary process.

In the XVIII legislature 146 Dl: 62 by the Draghi executive

In the last legislature, the XVIII, which began on 23 March 2018 and ended on 12 October 2022, 146 decree laws were issued: as many as 62 arose from the activity of the Draghi executive, which in recourse to urgent measures exceeded the “Conte 2” in the “yellow-red” version (54) and detached the “Conte 1” in “yellow-green” colors (26). Four Dl are attributable to the Gentiloni government. Of this huge mass of decrees, 104 were converted into law by Parliament, while 41 lapsed due to failure to approve within the expected time frame or because they were repealed. But even in this case the content of these decrees merged into other provisions with amendments approved during the navigation in Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama.

“One-way” parliamentary navigation

With the systematic recourse to emergency decrees, Parliament is in fact almost relegated to a secondary role. In the last legislature of the 104 Legislative Decrees converted into law, only five managed to be modified by both Chambers, completing the process of the three parliamentary passages, including that of final approval. A phenomenon that appears even more marked in this legislature. In a dossier of the Research Service of the Chamber it is highlighted that for none of the 9 decrees (8 of the Meloni government and one of the Draghi executive) which on 13 February were definitively dismissed by the assemblies of the Chamber and Senate (in the meantime other two) the three passages had been possible, limiting the possibility of retouching the text to a single branch of Parliament (with a one-way journey).

Mattarella’s warning

On the occasion of the promulgation of the law converting the Milleproroghe Decree, the head of state made his voice heard with a series of remarks which involved the decision to extend, through this provision, the beach concessions and which touched on the issue of abuse of the emergency decree, on which the President of the Republic had already pronounced during his first term at the Quirinale. On the latter front, Sergio Mattarella clearly let it be understood that he trusted the commitment that had been made by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni immediately after taking office in Palazzo Chigi to achieve, “in dialogue with the presidents of the chambers”, a trend reversal .