UNITEL: remove amendment to the law on territorial governance or risk infringement procedure.
The Impact Assessment (VINCA) is the preventive procedure to which it is necessary to subject any plan, program, project, intervention or activity that may have significant impacts on a site, or proposed site, of the Natura 2000 network, individually or together with other plans and projects and taking into account the conservation objectives of the site itself.
Point 1.9 of the National Guidelines for VIncA, on the topic of identifying the competent authorities for VIncA, report that “Although these delegations cannot be regulated at state level, it is necessary for the regional administrations to carry out a verification of the assigned competences to inadequate structures, such as some Municipalities, and identify specific regional, territorial offices or, preferably, the managing bodies of the sites or protected areas, which may have greater specific and technical-scientific knowledge”.
The Abruzzo Region, with LR 12 December 2003, n. 26, transferred to the Municipalities the responsibilities relating to VINCA for all plans not included among those indicated in paragraph 1 of the art. 1 of LR 13 February 2003, n. 2 in addition to the agricultural and wildlife-hunting plans, without any verification of the actual ability of the municipal bodies to be able to manage complex and specialized procedures, which require professional figures that often, if not always, the Municipalities do not have in their staff.
This situation, together with other failures in the application by the Italian Government and the Regions of European directives 3/92/EC and 147/09/EC, led, in 2014, to the opening of a pre-infringement procedure epr our country by the European Union. Italy, with the national guidelines mentioned above, in 2019 tried to remedy the serious national and regional regulatory deficiencies and the Abruzzo Region, with LR 7/2020, which came into force on 12 March 2020, had to, despite this, it returns the VINCA procedure to regional competence, however subjecting this fact to the effective adjustment of the staffing of the competent department (to be carried out according to the law within 90 days of entry into force).
The 90 days have passed and there has been no news of the reorganization of the regional offices, so much so that, at the request of the “Abruzzo Ornithological Station”, the Ministry of the Environment, with a note dated 8 August 2023, harshly reprimanded the Abruzzo Region , ordering it to give “complete implementation of the art. 1 of Regional Law 7/2020 with the expected complete transfer of competences on VIncA to the dedicated regional structure”, under penalty of the possible initiation of the infringement procedure by the European Union.
The Ministry’s reminder seemed to have borne fruit when, with the approval of LR 58 of December 2023, the Region, in art. 23, established its competence for the assessment of impact on territorial, urban and sectoral planning and programming acts and their variants, and on interventions or projects of regional, provincial or municipal importance, which affect sites of community importance, established or proposed, special conservation zones and special protection zones, leaving only the provincial capital municipalities to exercise the powers regarding VINCA on interventions, projects and activities of their respective competence.
But, suddenly, a regional law proposal appears, which will be discussed by the Budget, Territory and Health Commissions, where the cards on the table are changed and it is reiterated that “The provisions of articles 2 and 3 of the regional law remain firm and effective 2 March 2020, n. 7 (Provisions regarding impact assessment and amendments to regional law 3 March 1999, n. 11 (Implementation of legislative decree 31 March 1998, n. 112: Identification of administrative functions that require unitary exercise at regional level and conferral of administrative functions and tasks to local authorities and functional autonomies)) as well as the implementation acts possibly undertaken by the Regional Council”, returning, therefore, to the old, that is, to the competence of the Municipalities, small and large, waiting for the Region ” adapt the staffing of the regional support structure to the competent regional authority for the impact assessment in order to ensure the performance of the functions referred to in this law”.
A wait which, given that the original rule came into force in June 2020, has now lasted for four years!!!
“Unfortunately, for years – declares UNITEL, the Italian National Union of Local Authority Technicians, Abruzzo section – we have been witnessing – whatever the political “colour” of the Regional Councils, a proliferation of laws which, in the name of presumed loyal collaboration between entities, they dump endless skills on the municipalities, regardless of the fact that the municipal technical and administrative structures are now collapsing, with staff reduced to the bare bones and a lack of specific skills and professionalism”.
“The VINCA case – continues the Union of Local Authorities technicians – is yet another episode that confirms how the Abruzzo Region considers the Municipalities as subordinate bodies, and not as administrative structures with their own autonomy, as provided for by the Constitutional Charter. On VINCA, two TAR rulings have highlighted how municipal structures do not have specialist skills capable of carrying out assessments, such as that of incidence, which require environmental, biological, agronomic, forestry, chemical-physical studies, which a municipality cannot carry out if not by making use of external personnel, with serious organizational and economic repercussions on municipal structures, already in crisis due to the constant increase in tasks and responsibilities placed on them by state and regional regulations”.
“We therefore ask – underlines UNITEL – that the planned modification be removed and that the Region maintains the competences regarding VINCA, as correctly provided for by the art. 23 of LR 58/2023, also eliminating the possibility that the capital municipalities can carry out such assessments, which must remain exclusively the responsibility of the regional structures. If in four years the Abruzzo Region, which has almost 1,500 employees, has not managed to organize the competent offices in the matter, how can an average Abruzzo municipality, with one or two technicians under its belt, often with diplomas, carry out a such a complex matter?”
“We remind the Region – concludes the association – that loyal collaboration presupposes reciprocity, and not rules imposed from above, often not even communicated to the bodies involved, who must sift through circulars and rules on a daily basis to find legislative innovations that assign new competences or change the cards on the table. The Municipalities and Provinces are available for discussion, as long as it is truly fair and on an equal footing.”
note Ministry of the Environment to the Region
VINCA Ministry
UNITEL Abruzzo section
The president Arch. Raffaele Di Marcello
The advisors
Arch. Simona Di Crescenzo
Engineer Mario Crivelli
Geom. Salvatore Di Bacco
