Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009

Italy The institution of Region in Italy and the case of Lombardy
Assessed essay for the lecture “Italian Politics and European Integration” Supervisor: Prof. Rugge

1. The institution of Region
The formation of the regional order in Italy had a revolutionary meaning, fated to scar a new era in the history of the Italian State. While drawing up the Constitution Project (from July, 20th 1946 to January, 31st 1947), the constituents were fully conscious of it and singled out the matter: the topic of autonomies was immediately identified with the one of the State’s structure, and there was tangible harmony, in the constituents’ opinion, between the problem of autonomies and the one of Region.

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The initial position of the constituents was divided into those who were for the Region and those who were against – a ridge dividing the parties themselves. Two facts are to be pointed out: firstly, in the Commission there was an overrepresentation of Sicilians, Sardinians and Valle d’Aosta’s representatives, which influenced the Commission’s attitude towards the regional matter because of the cultural and historical reasons of the autonomy claimed by their areas; secondly, nearly all the parties placed in the Commission the most autonomist among their commissioners, evenly convinced that they were the most prepared on that topic.

Another interesting element is that nobody defended the administrative centralizing thesis as a new order for the Italian State. According to the administrative science, it is not quite untenable that thanks to the progress in the modern approaches to communication, even a strong centralizing, where exactly applied, could be useful to the administrative efficiency, offering its instruments and advantages. After

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 the Unification of Italy an actual decentralization was never completed; rather the opposite thesis prevailed. In fact, the Commission not only lacked in broadening the dilemma of centralizing versus decentralization, but also, once they had decided for decentralization, they kept on ignoring even the probability of a prejudicial choice between two organizational depicting: self-rule and binary system, which had been indicated from studious as an alternative.

Because of the nature of the debate itself, the main concern could be nothing but actually political: the determination of the powers of Region. In fact, there were no doubts about the need of a regional order; if anyone, they were perplexities who concerned the powers of the new body. While federalism was begged, on one side, and a mere decentralization, on the other, Dept. Ambrosini (DC) showed the thesis of a regional State as the single one able to gentle the opposite demands. But the immediate problem was not theoretical and about the definition of an exactly equidistant thesis between the extremes proposals, but the political one of the search for a wide agreement among the members of the deployment.

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Dept. Ambrosini’s thesis entailed that the Body region was gift with sole legislative power. The right wing and the Centre agreed, but about the legislative power Communists and Socialists were disposed to acknowledge only the additional one. Their idea then influenced the right wing. Thus on August, 1st it seemed possible to easily come to a general agreement. But during the Commission works Dept. Grieco (PCI) and Dept. Starnuti (PSIUP) submitted some amendments, one of whom was against the sole legislative power and only for the additional one – the initiative went flat in the final poll, however. On January, 17th it was observed that the Communist Party not only did not want to desist, but also considered excessive the additional legislative power; however just a few deputies were disposed to follow that opinion and an autonomist majority prevailed. To convince the commissioners that the national unity was not going to be in danger, both the Centre and Republicans had repeated several

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 times that the subjects assigned to the sole legislative power of Regions did not hold an exceptional importance. Though, to preserve a certain majority on the principle of sole legislative power, a drastic decrease of the list was necessary. The battle for the sole legislative power of Region was already lost at that time and the Commission had to coin the combined legislative power to set the subjects detracted from the sole legislative power. Despite those evolutions, the acknowledgement of regional autonomy represented an innovation with far-reaching consequences.

The choice of the bicameral system and of its composition for the new born Italian State lent itself to be made in the name of a fulfillment of the regional reform. But the thesis of the second Chamber as expression of Regions was just sustained by the less autonomist among the supporters of the Region, i.e. the left wing, while the Christian Democrats did not really like it, because they hoped to assert a different demand: the representation of professional classes.

The left wing coped all the way not to create a second Chamber with the same rights and powers of the first one, formed with elements obtained from a different source. They were walked over about the equality of the two Chambers, but obtained the exclusively elective origin also for the second one. Nevertheless, as it was still necessary to assume a measure of differentiation, they resorted to the mere territorial one and decided for a Senate chosen by an electorate constituted by regional councils. Thus the Region was reduced to a mere constituency with sole legislative power in a few subjects (about town planning, county police, public charity, municipal constituencies and peat bogs), additional legislative power in a few more matters and combined legislative power in all other subjects.

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2. The birth of Lombardy

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 Regions with ordinary statute were introduced into the Italian order with the 1948 republican constitution, but they were actually put into effect only in June 1970 with the first Regional Council elections. Yet the debate on Regions had started at the end of the Second World War.

In Lombardy it opened with the liberation from fascism, for want of the Province of Milan. In June 1945 there was a meeting of representatives from all Lombardy’s Provinces, who felt the need to denounce the hard situation of their finances and the uncertainty hanging over the fate of the Provinces themselves and of their officers. To deal with these common problems they decided to form the Regional Union of Lombardy’s Provinces (Urpl), which should represent the ideal place to compare various opinions about the global mending of Italian local autonomies.

Lombardy’s Provinces rallied in support to the institution of Regions with their ideas as to it: on top there was the State, a general political organ of national interest; then the Region, a legislative political organ of extensively localized interests; then again the Province, an administrative political organ of limited localized interests; finally the Municipality, a cell of the State.

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Once the Constitution had been approved, local and outlying administrators received a questionnaire divided into subjects, asking which state functions they would assign to Regions and which functions the Regions would have to delegate to local bodies. The Region had to directly wield administrative functions only in specific subjects or for limited periods and delegate the active administration to local bodies, mainly to Provinces. They wanted to weasel out to replace the state centralizing with a regional one.

The Province of Milan and the Urpl contributed to the putting into effect of Regions alerting the public opinion to the themes of regionalism, valuing Ministerial projects, organizing studies and foreshadowing institutional solutions. It gets across that the purpose of Lombardy’s provincial administrators was to

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 link the regionalist battle to the Province’s fate, which originated the so called ‘instrumental regionalism’: the constitutional acknowledgement of Regions, first, and their putting into effect, later, should not jeopardize the survival of the provincial body but speed up its development. On the contrary, Lombardy’s Provinces did not rule out that the Region may be established just through the coordination of provincial structures. It was 1950s and then Regions suffered a multi-year ostracism. Only during the centre left parliamentary experience someone went back up considering their putting into effect.

While earlier Lombardy’s administrators had contended for the regional autonomy to be acknowledged by the Constitution, in 1960s they were doing the same for the regional order to reduce the distance between the State and civil society and to define a new way to program public policies. Thus, territorial programming and participating in the country’s governing became more and more linked to the regional battle.

In the 1960s studying institutes as the Isap (Institute for Public Administration Science) and the Ilses (Lombardy’s Institute for Economic and Social Studies), newspapers and reviews began concerning themselves with the regional topic. A few months before June 1970 regional Councils election, the

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Corriere della Sera published the first of a set of articles titled ‘Italy 1970: Regions’ paper’, which opened with Lombardy. There was written that Lombardy, because of its demographic and economic load and because of its great administrative tradition, was fated to be a model and a guide for all the others; the investigation also dealt with the territorial definition and with economic topics. Furthermore, it was pointed out that Lombardy was characterized by the copresence of the most advanced industrial division of Italy, of a traditionally dynamic agriculture and of the emerging of an advanced service industry going to appeal to trade as a strong point for the future. The economic primacy came from historical factors such as the entrepreneurial spirit of Lombardy’s bourgeoisie, which, without waiting for industry, had already worked in agriculture – nowadays still an important sector in this region.

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 However, a planning of the industrial installations was claimed, to relieve congestion in Milan’s area; also involve an assessment of regional transports should have been involved. The Region should then also consider all those external factors, such as financing, vocational training, applied research and administrative efficiency, which could encourage the economic development.1 Indro Montanelli, historical journalist of the Corriere wrote:

“It takes just a little to forecast that Lombardy will be the best governed one [Region]. For three motivations. First of all the balance among its several areas: also among them there are some richer and some less rich […] but it is about mild inequalities …. Secondly, for its economic availabilities […]. Third – and fundamental – for the administrative capabilities of its ruling class. Milan and Lombardy have a solid tradition in this area […]. It is a trustworthy forecast that the Region Lombardy will have a clear vision of its engagements, a balance in order, and an efficient bureaucracy. But all of this will make it even more extraneous to Italy, where there is a lot to be afraid of the opposite to happen. And then, between the two, one of them: either Italy will conform more and more to Lombardy’s model, or Lombardy will gradually break away from Italy.”2

The Region became topic of discussion and widening also in Lombardy’s parties. Policies were also

6 determined because of a regional attitude more or less marked. Surely a political proposal was reached: Region as an instrument to reconcile citizens to institutions. Following the way of ‘Region from down upwards’ meant to adjust the State’s structure to the mass society and respond to the new needs coming from it.

During the special political and economic junction of the 1960s, the Ministry of Balance considered necessary to create regional organisms collaborating in the arrangement of the national economic plan. The aims of these Committees were to go on to a reconnaissance of economic reserves and of social conditions of the Region; to identify the problems of regional economic development and outline potential intervention means in the Region; to arrange a possible plan for the regional economic

I. Montanelli, Lo squilibrio fra le due Italie, in “Corriere della Sera”, January, 20 1970, p. 4. There were also faced the topic th of Lombardy’s Universities and their relationship with the Region’s needs (“Corriere della Sera”, January, 27 1970), th st problems such as immigration, welfare state (therein, January, 29 1970) and Region’s poor areas (therein, January, 31 1970) 2 th I. Montanelli, Il dilemma della Ruhr italiana, in “Corriere della Sera”, January, 18 1970, p. 5

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Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 development following the Ministry’s directives; to supply the Ministry with useful news for an economic setting. Each Committee should incorporate many representatives, such as the presidents of Provinces, the main mayors, experts chosen by the Ministry, the presidents of the Chambers of commerce, of industry and of agriculture, workers’ and employers’ representatives, experts and so on. These regional Committees were peripheral organs of state administration, whose tasks were nothing but advisory; even the plan for the regional economic development was going to be an informative document.

Lombardy’s regional Committee for the economic setting was born on July, 29th 1965; its chairmanship was committed to Milan’s assessor Bassetti (DC), who accepted thinking that it would be a chance to fight for Regions. But the Committees’ rules had been strictly outlined by the Ministry and actually it had no power at all. The CrpeL’s (Lombardy’s Regional Committee for economic setting) experience can be distinguished into two parts: a first one dedicated to studying and elaboration of the plan; a second one fated to the putting into effect and coordination of the plan’s proposals – this had a lean success.

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The Committees’ work met certain dissatisfaction because of two motivations: on one hand, according to a part of local administrators, the plan’s choices were not suitable; on the other hand, the instruments in hand for the putting into effect and the control were about null and void. The plan’s options favored instruction, transports, social and sanitary assistance. According to the writers, a restructuring of both road and railroad networks could, lonely, relieve congestion in Milan’s area and integrate the Provinces of Cremona, Mantova and Pavia, setting a natural rebalancing in the industrial development. If we consider that the key factors for the putting into effect were Provinces and Municipalities’ Consortiums, we can understand that the misapplication of estimates depended also on those bodies’ administrators themselves. Once they had left the Committee assembly and they had returned in the sphere of their affiliation body, they never had the strength nor the political will to put in

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 practice what they had contributed to work out. In consequence, here there is what the CrpeL understood:

“Whatever plan model is intended to be assumed, whatever procedural approaches and contents, the Region put itself as a fundamental interlocutor, essentially to collect, connect and get the political requests coming from local inhabitants across to the centre, and, in turn, to get the functions resting with them for the putting into effect of the plan across to the outlying bodies.”3

According to the law 1968/108, regional councils would have been elected in universal suffrage with direct, free and secret vote and the first regional elections would have taken place at the same time as the provincial and the municipal ones, on June, 7th 1970. The animosity of parties to flatly greet the regional prospect was already shown in the law’s article about the allocation of seats. By establishing that the lists of candidates should be allocated by proportional method, it was also foreseen that the territory of each region would be divided into constituencies matching the respective Provinces. As the candidates were proclaimed by the political policy, regional councils would turn out to be a juxtaposition of provincial delegations, maybe more inclined to project local requests in the regional seat, than to favor the growth of a regional level of government.

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In Lombardy’s regional council there were 80 seats, as disposed by the law 1968/108 for Regions whose population was more than 6 millions of inhabitants. The seats resting with Milan’s constituency were 35: it was enough to influence the internal balance of the council in case of a net achievement of a party or coalition. The fact, then, that for the first time and at the same time in all Regions the elections for regional, provincial and municipal Councils were going to take place contributed to attach more importance to the polling. The competition was burdened with political value and conceived of ‘global’ check of the centre left work. From this point of view, Milan and Lombardy, both for the multitude of electors and involved administrations and for the economic and social importance of the Region in the

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CrpeL, Progetto di piano, quot., p. 178

Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 Italian context, could give clues on the effectiveness of the national political pattern and on the hierarchy of parties inside the four-party lining up. Therefore here is the massive participation of parties’ national exponents and governmental representatives in Milan’s electoral campaign and the preponderance of national topics. Elections in Lombardy were won by the DC (40.9%), followed by the PCI (23.1%), the PSI (12.4%) and the PSU/PSDI (7.2%). But among the causes of the DC’s success we do not have to forget the considerable visibility of some candidates, nor the engagement of the party in the regional battle. The DC kept a massive preponderance; the party had suffered a dip, however. Then it was not difficult to foresee some difficulties in the allotment of charges. At the first concrete engagement of Lombardy’s centre left, the election of the regional council’s presidency department, it was evident that Lombardy was born with problems and conditionings.

The Region’s life officially began on July, 6th 1970 with the settlement of the regional council; they had to elect the regional council’s presidency department: a president, two vice-presidents and two secretaries. On that day, while the Region Lombardy was born, in Rome the centre left government guided by the president Rumor (DC) resigned: an unexpected event, which had repercussions also on the outlined regional alliance of centre left. While the DC’s exponents still claimed that the president should be chosen in their party, the left wing did not agree. But the DC decided that the election should take place anyway and the regional council turned out to be formed by president Colombo (DC), by vicepresidents Damiani (DC) and Smuraglia (PCI) and by secretaries Giuliani (DC) and Giori (PSIUP). The straining imposed by the DC caused a further separation of positions for the regional council formation and the squabble lasted two more weeks. Finally Mr. Golfari (DC) affirmed that though he admitted that the national government crisis was going to lie heavy on the possibility to overcome those difficulties, the independence in choices of local administrations levels and autonomy was so much that there was no duty of subordination to the national government’s patterns, nor any need of global solution for the

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Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 three local government levels.4 Thus on July, 28th the parties found an agreement and the presidency of the regional council was offered to Mr. Bassetti (DC). With his work he showed his confidence in the Region as an instrument for a fitting policy of planning, for a new dimension of democratic participation and, more generally, for a renewal of political, party and administrative systems. And it not possible to notice Lombardy’s centre left stability and relative autonomy, as regards the national political incidents, in other Regions run by the centre left.

3. Conclusions

The first element deductible from this essay is the political feature of the regional topic. In the period between the collapse of the fascist regime on June, 25th 1943 and the submission of the Constitutional project to the Constituent Assembly on January, 27th 1947, the Region was politics. Politics as a fact,

10 because of 1943-45 reality, and politics as an idea, as a way to be of parties’ programs; this happened also later, when the regionalism of the liberation fight turned again into the centralizing of the prefascist State.

The second important element is that the government’s crisis of June 1947 probably had some influence on the part of Constitution that was being discussed at the same time, that is right the one concerning Regions. In fact, the crisis’ solution turned on a dime the attitude of some parties to the regional matter. Two distinct phases may be identified: in the first one, i.e. the introductive discussion of the whole Project in the Assembly and the most part of the general argument on Regions, underlined some regionalism in the parties; the second one, i.e. the end of the argument and the examination of the

Urcr – Regione Lombardia, Atti, I, July, 21 1970, quot., pp. 38-39. Later also president Bassetti himself will refer to evident rd “contacts existing between regional reality and the national reality” in the program document of September, 23 1970, in rd Urcr – Regione Lombardia, Atti, I, September, 23 1970, quot., p. 186

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Margarethe Nitzsche --- 345830/82 --- 23.09.2009 single articles, remarked a rectification of the previous attitude. Thus, except the Christian Democrats and Republicans, the parties had a negative reaction towards the regionalist experience.

But, coming to Lombardy, we can notice that about twenty years later, after July, 6th 1970 government crisis, things changed. As seen before, at the beginning the left wing quarreled with the DC because of the election of the President, but after the summer break, despite Mr. Bassetti’s closing to the left wing during the electoral campaign, Majority and Opposition began a real cooperation, which lasted until the end of the term – a wise attitude, denoting their common interest to the Region and its future.

Bibliography: 11

E. Rotelli; L’avvento della Regione in Italia: dalla caduta del regime fascista alla Costituzione

repubblicana 1943-1947; Milano, Giuffrè, 1967; pp. 295-340

M. Bonabello; La nascita della Regione Lombardia: profilo politico; Storia Amministrazione, Costituzione, Annale ISAP, 13/2005; Milano, Giuffrè; pp. 65-151