The next stages of autonomy for Veneto

Having received the second and definitive yes from the Chamber of Deputies to the bill on differentiated autonomy, it will now be up to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to promulgate the law within 30 days. This will be followed by a maximum limit of 15 days for publication in the Official Journal: the law will then have a number and a date.

From that moment on, the Veneto Region will be able to formally ask the Government to restart the negotiating table. As explained by the governor, Luca Zaia, we will proceed in two successive phases: one “will concern the first nine subjects which are not subject to the Lep, the other the 14 subjects” which are subject to the essential levels of performance. «Each Region – specified Zaia – will then try to propose its “tailor-made suit”».

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The stages of differentiated autonomy

• On 22 October 2017, Venetian citizens were called to express their opinion on the request for autonomy. Over 2,328,000 voters, for a percentage equal to 57.2% of those entitled to vote, went to the polls. 98.1% of voters expressed their opinion in favor of autonomy
• Veneto Council for Autonomy: the Region has established a permanent body composed of the regional representatives of the local Autonomies, the economic and productive categories of the territory, the trade union forces and the third sector, the world of universities and research
• At the end of 2017, a first phase of negotiations began with the then Gentiloni Government, which had asked for the Region’s willingness to limit the negotiations to some primary subjects (job protection, education, health protection, protection and enhancement of the environment and the ecosystem)
• On 28 February 2018, a pre-agreement between the Government and the Veneto Region was signed by President Zaia and the Undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with responsibility for Regional Affairs and Autonomies. With the agreement, the State has formally undertaken the commitment to give life to the so-called differentiated regionalism, and to continue the negotiations after the imminent renewal of the institutional bodies of the State
• Following the installation of the first Conte government, on 12 June 2018, the negotiating delegation from Veneto met the Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, Erika Stefani, in Rome; on this occasion, the reopening of negotiations with the Veneto Region for the achievement of differentiated autonomy was formally sanctioned. The Region participated in more than 15 political-institutional meetings, and in more than 35 technical meetings
• On 23 September 2019, the first official meeting was held between President Zaia and the new Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, Francesco Boccia. In addressing the issue of the implementation of differentiated autonomy, the new Government decided to change the approach to the discussion with the Regions, identifying as a priority the need to have a framework law, within the framework of which to report both the political-institutional debate that arose at a national level and the individual negotiations with the Regions for the definition of the relevant agreements
• In the session of 28 November 2019, the Conference of Regions examined a first draft text of the framework law on which it expressed a generally favorable position with regard to the general structure; the Conference, with respect to the text received, deemed it appropriate to refer to some in-depth analysis, concerning in particular some financial regulations. The bill did not continue its path and was not even preliminarily approved by the Council of Ministers
• The autonomist path, following a setback due to the outbreak of the pandemic, then resumed under the Draghi Government. During 2021, an informal dialogue was launched between representatives of the government institutions and the Regions involved. The discussion, in particular, focused on the possible contents of the framework law
• The day after his inauguration, the Meloni executive, through the voice of the new Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, Roberto Calderoli, expressed his desire to give new impetus to the path towards differentiated autonomy, subsequently arriving at the presentation of a framework law text, starting from the work carried out by previous Governments
• On 15 March 2023, the Council of Ministers approved the Calderoli bill, which provides for the definition of the “general principles for the attribution to the Regions with ordinary statute of further forms and particular conditions of autonomy” and of the “relative procedural methods of approval of agreements between the State and a Region”
• The text was subsequently presented to the Senate and assigned for examination by the first Constitutional Affairs Commission. The work in the commission concluded on 21 November 2023, with the approval of an amended text compared to the original one presented by the Government, which was examined by the chamber and approved at first reading on 23 January 2024
• The measure was transmitted to the Chamber on January 24, and was approved by the chamber today morning, Wednesday June 19, 2024.