We were wrong, let's admit it. The abstention of the Democratic Party on the motion of the IDV which called for the abolition of the provinces did not please many of our voters and contradicted - at least in part - our own pronouncements of the past months. Yes, of course, it was a "symbolic" vote. Yes, of course, the problem always has more general aspects and dutifully refers to more far-reaching reforms. Yes, of course, a review of the entire chain that leads from local authorities to the central state requires first of all to rethink the enormity of skills that have accumulated in the regions - and which are, in my opinion, the main distorting element we have to deal with . And yet a vote in favor of that agenda would have been clearer than that somewhat tartufesque abstention in which we finally took refuge.
The writer, notoriously, is not part of the group of political admirers of the honorable Di Pietro. I contested the electoral alliance we had made in his time, and I fear the news agency archives hold far too many traces of my views on the matter. However, I must admit that, in this case, reason is on his side. Not because we should put ourselves in the front row in the race to see who thunders the loudest against caste and the costs of politics. But because - in times of announced federalism - putting order along the chain that links the country's territorial articulations is a fundamental political programme. And the overcoming of the provinces, in my opinion, goes precisely in that direction.
When the regions were launched in the XNUMXs (much more streamlined and functional at the time than they have since become) they said: we will surpass the provinces. Since then we've added a fair number of them to what was there before. About ten years ago, Parliament voted to award the districts of Monza, Fermo and Barletta with the prestigious title. The writer then voted against, gaining a few more "friends" in those parts. Meanwhile, behind the shield of special powers, Sardinia has doubled its provinces: from four to eight. And whoever has the patience to sift through parliamentary documents will discover that legislative pressure is still strong today to add more beads to this long rosary.
Now, let it be clear, the abolition of the provinces is not the panacea for all ills. It is necessary to rethink the entire architecture of autonomies, and to enforce the principle of subsidiarity: it is decentralized as soon as possible, it is concentrated only when it is necessary. If we gave ourselves that principle as a compass, we would have already covered a good part of the way. We don't need a tribal war between territories in which everyone defends - perhaps with some good reason - their own scalp. Indeed, an idea of the state is needed. An idea of how to reconcile and harmonize the infinite particularities that characterize our country and its institutions. And that idea must in turn be consistent with a fundamental idea of Europe and our way of being in it.
It would be appropriate to begin this reasoning as soon as possible. That is right away.
* Senator of the Democratic Party
