The surprise move of the leader of Autonomy. The president of Veneto Luca Zaia extends his hand to the Southern Regions and launches the hypothesis of twinning with a Southern region that accepts the challenge together, to overcome and prevent disparities in the provision of services. The attempt is to break the front that has been created between the five regions of the center-left (Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Puglia and Campania led by the Democratic Party and Sardinia, of the M5s) capable, by joining forces, of asking for the abrogative referendum without the obligation to collect signatures. A front that this week, also bringing together social forces and trade unions (there is the adhesion of the Cgil and the Uil) should take another step towards the birth of a coordination that will have to draw up a document in support of the abrogative referendum.
The weak point is represented by Emilia Romagna, because Stefano Bonaccini, who had joined the autonomist project in a “soft” version but then said he was against the Calderoli bill, will have to resign within ten days in time for his installation at the European Parliament, scheduled for July 16, after which the Region enters the prorogatio regime. «We will be willing to twin immediately with a Region of the South, and to test this autonomy together, because this is truly the challenge. Let’s make sure that inequalities go away», says Zaia, intending to start by the end of the year with the nine subjects not subject to compliance with the Lep (Essential Levels of Performance). The president of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio, representing Forza Italia, who in the center-right has a more cautious and wait-and-see attitude, replies: “Every idea is welcome if it can be good, but in Piedmont we already have a natural twinning with the South, many people from the South already live here, so we don’t need to propose a twinning”, explains Cirio.
Zaia takes aim at the five regions opposed. Of course, the abrogative referendum «is a democratic right but we need to see if what is being asked for is constitutional». The president of Veneto is wasting no time. For the 9 “non-Lep” subjects (International and EU relations; Foreign trade; Professions; Civil protection; Supplementary and supplementary pensions; Coordination of public finance and the tax system; Savings banks, rural banks, regional credit companies; Regional land and agricultural credit institutions; Organization of the justice of the peace) he has already sent a letter to the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in which he asks to «add for an initial investigation of the more complex attribution profiles» also the Lep subjects included in the 2018 pre-agreement: Labor policies, Education, Health, Protection of the environment and the ecosystem. In the middle are the center-right regions of the South, which are expressing doubts.
It is probably to them that he is addressing, especially Zaia. “It seems more like a flag to give to a political force”, said the president of Calabria Roberto Occhiuto and the governor of Basilicata Vito Bardi had spoken of a missed opportunity to “further improve the provision”. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, calls for a large mobilization against the law, as recalled by the deputy Piero De Luca, who speaks of an “epochal battle because we must defend the future of our territory”.
But above all, the acceleration imposed by Zaia, who brings into play the central government and the prime minister, who had seemed cautious, awaiting the launch of the Lep, for which there are 24 months, is worrying. “As expected, Zaia and the Veneto region are preparing to ask to sign the agreement on non-Lep matters. That was what we feared,” says Francesco Boccia. “We had asked Giorgia Meloni not to sign any agreement before the definition of the Lep,” continues the leader of the Senate group of the Democratic Party, also in his role as former minister of Regional Affairs. “We will see what happens, given that even some regional presidents of the center-right have criticized the reform. But even more so – concludes Boccia – it is necessary to oppose in every way the implementation of this law.”
