“The South must stop crying.” The Minister for Civil Protection Nello Musumeci, Sicilian and former president of his region, tries to put a cap on the criticisms of Differentiated Autonomy which in the South were also raised by several voices in the centre-right. An internal front that joins that between the majority and the opposition. With the M5s who wrote a letter to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella begging him to “want to evaluate the opportunity to exercise his constitutional prerogative” to refer the reform to the Chambers as soon as it has become law, because it “disrupts the constitutional structure”.
The EU Commission also raised an alarm, underlining in a working document (drafted earlier but made known on the day of the green light at Montecitorio) that “the devolution of further competences to the Italian regions entails risks for the cohesion and public finances of the country “. Brussels’ warning focuses on the LEPs: “Since they only guarantee minimum levels of services and do not concern all sectors, there are still risks of increasing regional inequalities” which already exist between North and South, but also between urban and peripheral areas. A new side for the opposition, which bases most of its protests precisely on the Lep and is organising, for now in no particular order, to arrive at a referendum to repeal what they have long branded as the “split-Italy” reform. “If 500,000 signatures are collected by September 30th, we will go to the vote in 2025. If the quorum occurs, the government goes home. But even if the quorum does not arise, the executive offers the first break point to the opposition”, the metaphor tennis by Matteo Renzi.
There is also the possibility that the referendum will be requested by five regional councils, exactly as many as those in which the centre-left currently has a majority. Not to mention that in some regions of the South some discontent was also expressed by centre-right exponents. Enough for the dem governor Stefano Bonaccini to predict that Autonomy and the Premiership “will also create cracks in the majority”. Some can even be glimpsed in the League, at least in Calabria: the president of the regional council, Filippo Mancuso, spoke of a “mess”, and the following day the League group had to specify in a note that “regional autonomy represents an extraordinary opportunity and not a problem.” The Calabrian deputies of FI did not vote for it and the president of the Region Roberto Occhiuto defined the acceleration on the reform “a mistake”, which risks being an “electoral boomerang” for the coalition. An exit which, it is said in blue circles, was not liked by the leaders of Forza Italia, but which is dismissed as “marketing” towards Southern voters skeptical of the reform. While the oppositions invite him to join them to collect signatures for the referendum, his brother, the Italian senator Mario Occhiuto, assures that thanks to “FI’s amendments the South is protected”.
Differentiated Autonomy “goes in the right direction – the comment by Antonio Tajani, which arrived more than twenty-four hours after the approval -, there are legitimate concerns in the South of the country which, however, will be dispelled by the application of the agendas specifically to guarantee the South, presented by FI and approved by a large majority. They commit the government to always turn the spotlight on southern realities”. The first test on governor Occhiuto’s forecasts (as well as on the aspirations of the referendum members) could arrive at the weekend, when in some large southern municipalities the mayor will be chosen in the run-off. From Bari to Avellino, from Potenza to Campobasso, from Caltanissetta to Vibo Valentia. Musumeci tries to reassure: “We need to compete with the North, knowing that our objectives are different from those of the northern regions – added the minister -. But to do this we must free ourselves from the theory of the Southern question. The measure adopted yesterday forces the ruling classes, both in the north and in the south, to face their responsibilities. I voted for the measure in the Senate and I would never have voted for a measure that could jeopardize the unity of Italy.”
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