The Reform of the Constitution affects the planning and construction of infrastructure essentially through the modification of article 117 both in the part in which it attributes the legislation on "strategic infrastructures and large transport and navigation networks of interest to the exclusive competence of the State and related safety regulations, civil ports and airports, of national and international interest" (letter z), and in paragraphs of the same article referring to other subjects. In fact, the parts of the new article 117 which bring legislative competence back to the State in the matter of: "protection and enhancement of cultural and landscape assets" (letter s) "general and common provisions on territorial governance" also have an impact on infrastructures (letter u) and finally "national production, transport and distribution of energy" (letter v).
The legislative power of the regions is not excluded, it is in fact envisaged in the reform and concerns, among other things, the subjects of planning the regional territory and mobility within it and the infrastructural endowment and the "promotion" of landscape assets. This power will in any case be well bounded by the exercise by the State of its exclusive competences indicated above and in any case is subject to the possible activation of the provisions of a new fourth paragraph of article 117, the so-called supremacy clause, which provides for: "On a proposal from the Government, the law of the State can intervene in matters not reserved to exclusive legislation when the protection of the juridical or economic unity of the Republic, or the protection of the national interest, requires it". From the set of provisions cited, the Government and the national Parliament will have the opportunity to modify (albeit respecting all the constraints of transparency, legality, safety, protection of the environment and of cultural and landscape assets, etc.) in the sense of speed, efficiency and effectiveness of the provisions on the planning and construction of infrastructures, not only by making direct use of the exclusive legislation and the supremacy clause, but also by avoiding an overload of acts of understanding with the Regions which derive from concurrent jurisdiction.
Moreover, it should also be remembered that the new article 118, second paragraph, of the text of the constitutional reform provides that in general "Administrative functions are exercised in such a way as to ensure the simplification and transparency of the administrative action, according to criteria of efficiency and responsibility of the administrators ”;
an important provision which constitutes a standard to be followed also for the exclusive legislation of the State on the subject of infrastructures.
The potential benefits of the new constitutional arrangement are many.
First of all, on the basis of exclusive competence, state legislation will be able to identify faster solutions to overcome the dissent expressed by regional administrations on the layout of inter-regional works or on the location of infrastructures of national importance in the context of service conferences or other committees (for example the CIPE), while maintaining spaces for adequate discussion; such vetoes sometimes block the launch of important works. Currently the regulations provide, after the expression of dissent, further phases of technical verification and negotiation and only at the end of a long process the possibility of a final decision with Prime Ministerial Decree or Presidential Decree, subject to a resolution by the Council of Ministers, in the presence of the President of the dissenting region.
Again on the basis of exclusive jurisdiction, state legislation will also be able to define port and airport systems more freely, with the necessary mergers and with the necessary priority choices, as well as define a more streamlined organizational structure, in comparison with Regions and local bodies but without suffer local pressures that lead to inefficient solutions and disconnected from traffic data.
Finally, through the supremacy clause, it will be easier for the State to initiate reform interventions also in relation to local services; for example, while today local public transport is managed by the regions within the ambit of a residual competence, on the basis of the aforesaid clause the State will be able to intervene to favor competition and the efficiency of the sector.
Extract from “L'Economia del Sì”, edited by Irene Tinagli. Download here the document whole wheat.
