Consiglio regional

Italian regions

Consiglio regional , German: "Regionalrat", in Italy is usually the name for the representative body of a region . There are 20 such regional parliaments, which are unicameral parliaments , even if there are also advisory representations of the municipalities and municipal associations in the form of the “ Councils of Local Autonomies ” . Since five of the 20 Italian regions are autonomous, their representative bodies have more rights than the regional councils of the other regions. In the autonomous region of Sicily , the regional representative body is called the “Regional Assembly” ( Assemblea Regionale Siciliana ) , in Emilia-Romagna Assemblea legislativa . In the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige , the regional council is not directly elected by the people; it is formed by the members of the Trentino regional parliament and the South Tyrolean regional parliament .

history

The Kingdom of Italy was a centralized unitary state , especially during fascism , in which provinces formed the highest administrative unit. As early as 1943, the now autonomous Italian regions began to seek secession , which the Kingdom of Italy countered with autonomy rights from 1944.

On January 27 and March 18, 1944, high commissioners were set up in Sardinia and Sicily , each of which set up a regional consulta at the beginning of 1945 . These were organs whose members were appointed by the Italian Prime Minister on the proposal of the respective High Commissioner. The members, 18 in Sardinia, 36 in Sicily, were personalities from anti-fascist movements, lawyers, historians, and employer and employee representatives. Under the chairmanship of the respective High Commissioner, they worked out drafts for a regional statute, a regional constitution . After being adopted by the Consulta nazionale in Rome, the Constitution of Sicily was promulgated on May 15, 1946 by Umberto II , the last king of Italy . The first regional assembly of Sicily was elected on April 20, 1947. The regional constitution of Sardinia was initially drawn up on the model of Sicily, but after delays and changes did not come into force until 1948; the regional council there was only elected on May 8, 1949. The Sicilian Regional Assembly succeeds the Sicilian Parliament, first convened in 1097, the Regional Council of Sardinia in the tradition of the Stamenti .

After the Second World War , the victorious powers did not deny that South Tyrol remained within the Italian state; the German- and Ladin-speaking population of this area should, however, be given special privileges to protect their language and cultural characteristics. In this regard, the Paris Agreement was signed between the Italian Prime Minister De Gasperi and the Austrian Foreign Minister Gruber , for the protection and equal rights of the German language group. When the First Statute of Autonomy came into force in 1948, extensive autonomy rights were not assigned to South Tyrol, but to the newly created Trentino-Tyrolean Etschland region and the regional council there. This should also benefit De Gasperi's compatriots in Trentino; in fact, however, the self-government of South Tyrol was made impossible because the Italian language group formed the majority in the new region and all important decisions, including those relating to South Tyrol, were made in Trento. With the Second Statute of Autonomy, which came into force in 1972, the competencies of the Trentino-South Tyrol region were largely transferred to the two now autonomous provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol. The regulation remained peculiar, according to which the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol was directly elected, but at the same time the corresponding members of the regional council formed the respective provincial council or state parliament in their two provinces. In 2001 this regulation was reversed through a constitutional reform; The 35 directly elected members of the provincial parliaments of Trentino and South Tyrol thus form the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol, which is no longer directly elected.

The Aosta Valley , which is now an autonomous region , was granted autonomous rights by the later Italian royal house of Savoy as early as 1032 under Humbert I. The Charte des franchises of 1191 formed the basis for various co-determination rights of the people there. In the age of absolutism these autonomy rights were noticeably curtailed. Fascism with its Italianization efforts also led to demands for autonomy in the Aosta Valley. Based on the Sicilian model, a Consulta regional was set up in the Aosta Valley at the beginning of 1946 to draw up a regional statute. The first regional council elections took place on April 24, 1949. The Aosta Valley Regional Council is also known as the Conseil de la Vallée .

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region was formed in 1963 and granted autonomy rights, in particular to protect the Slovenian minority, but also because of the Furlan population and to promote an economic area that was then on the border with the Iron Curtain. The regional council and the regional government were located in Trieste , the former capital of Venezia Giulia , which caused displeasure in Friuli and especially in Udine .

The regional councils of the 15 Italian regions with normal statutes were first elected in 1970, 22 years after the entry into force of the Italian constitution, which establishes the regionalization of Italy.

list

Autonomous regions are marked with an asterisk

region	Regional Parliament (web link)	Seat	First session	Seats
Abruzzo	Consiglio Regionale dell'Abruzzo consiglio.regione.abruzzo.it	L'Aquila	1970	30th
Aosta Valley *	Consiglio Regionale - Conseil de la Vallée consiglio.regione.vda.it	Aosta	1949	35
Apulia	Consiglio Regionale della Puglia consiglio.puglia.it	Bari	1970	51
Basilicata	Consiglio Regionale della Basilicata consiglio.basilicata.it	Potenza	1970	21st
Emilia-Romagna	Assemblea Legislativa assemblea.emr.it	Bologna	1970	50
Friuli Venezia Giulia *	Consiglio Regionale del FVG consiglio.regione.fvg.it	Trieste	1963	49
Calabria	Consiglio Regionale della Calabria consiglioregionale.calabria.it	Reggio Calabria , Palazzo Campanella	1970	31
Campania	Consiglio Regionale della Campania consiglio.regione.campania.it	Naples , Torre Consiglio Regionale	1970	51
Lazio	Consiglio Regionale del Lazio consiglio.regione.lazio.it	Rome	1970	51
Liguria	Consiglio Regionale della Liguria regione.liguria.it	Genoa	1970	31
Lombardy	Consiglio Regionale della Lombardia consiglio.regione.lombardia.it	Milan , Pirelli skyscraper	1970	80
Brands	Consiglio Regionale delle Marche consiglio.marche.it	Ancona , Palazzo delle Marche	1970	31
Molise	Consiglio Regionale del Molise consiglio.regione.molise.it	Campobasso	1970	21st
Piedmont	Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte cr.piemonte.it	Turin , Palazzo Lascaris	1970	51
Sardinia *	Consiglio Regionale della Sardegna consregsardegna.it	Cagliari , Palazzo del Consiglio regional	1949	60
Sicily *	Assemblea Regionale Siciliana ars.sicilia.it	Palermo , Palazzo dei Normanni	1947	70
Tuscany	Consiglio Regionale della Toscana consiglio.regione.toscana.it	Florence	1970	41
Trentino-South Tyrol *	Regional Council Trentino-South Tyrol regionalrat.tnst.it	Trento , Bolzano	1948	70
Umbria	Consiglio Regionale dell'Umbria consiglio.regione.umbria.it	Perugia	1970	21st
Veneto	Consiglio Regionale del Veneto consiglioveneto.it	Venice , Palazzo Ferro Fini	1970	61

Competencies

Until a constitutional reform in 2001, the competences of the regions with normal statutes were limited to the areas listed in the Italian constitution, which could only be exercised on the basis of a state law. Since 2001, the Italian regions or the autonomous provinces have legislative power in all areas that are not expressly reserved for the Italian Parliament . Other areas that are assigned to the exclusive legislative power of the regions or autonomous provinces are provided for in the special statutes of the autonomous regions.

Until 1999, the regional governments were elected by the regional parliaments and could be overthrown at any time with a simple vote of no confidence without any consequences for the respective regional parliament. As at the national level, this regulation led to frequent changes of government. In 1999, an amendment to the Italian constitution made it possible to no longer elect the presidents of the Italian regions from the regional parliaments, but directly from the people. With the exception of the Aosta Valley (election by the regional council) and Trentino-Alto Adige (rotation of provincial governors), all regions made use of this option. If the regional parliament expresses its mistrust of the president of the region, directly elected by the people, and forces him to resign, this now automatically means the self-dissolution of the regional parliament and new elections.

choice

The regional councils are elected in general, equal, secret and personal elections. The electoral mode depends on the particular region. However, the regional electoral laws essentially provide for a proportional representation system.

From 1947 to 1995, the regional parliaments were elected on the basis of a purely proportional representation system, which usually led to unclear majorities and unstable regional governments. In 1995 a new electoral law came into force for the regions with normal statutes. It stipulated that four fifths of the seats in the regional council were allocated according to the strength of the parties' votes. The law also provided for a three percent threshold, which did not apply if a party below the three percent threshold had formed a coalition with a party that was able to achieve more than five percent of the vote. The remaining fifth of the seats were given to the winning coalition in order to guarantee stable government majorities. After 2001 the principles of this electoral system were mostly retained. The regional electoral laws and the direct election of the regional government have ensured extremely stable conditions at the regional level ever since.

Apart from early elections, the legislative period lasts five years. The elections of the regional councils in the regions with normal statutes usually take place on uniform election dates (also called election day ).

organs

A regional parliament is headed by a president who is elected at the beginning of each legislative period. The presidium of a regional parliament consists of the president, vice-presidents, regional councilors responsible for administration and order, and secretaries. At the head of the administration is usually a Secretary General appointed by the Presidium .

The parliamentary work takes place in plenary, in permanent and, if necessary, in special (investigative) committees. As a rule, there are also commissions, which are mostly responsible for the rules of procedure , checking the legality of regional elections and other special tasks.

Sometimes a minimum number of regional councils is required to form a political group; if the appropriate faction formation does not take place, the path to a so-called "mixed faction" is open. The Conference of Group Chairmen, under the leadership of the President of the Regional Parliament, determines in particular the agenda and the calendar of meetings.