Towards new provinces and metropolitan
cities:
Is reform possible with no recources and
no collaboration?
Regions, provinces and municipalities
are the three levels of the Italian
Government.
A province of the Italian Republic is
composed of mani municipalities
(comuni). Unsually several provinces
together form a region.
In 1861 at the birth of the kingdom of Italy, there were 59
provinces.
In 1927, following a royal charter, a general province
rearrangement took place. 17 new provinces were created.
New provinces were created in 1934, 1935, 1941, 1947,
1968,1970, 1974, 1992, 2001, 2005.
The result was 107 provinces.
Provinces manage responsibilities such as:
roads’ maintenance, local transportation,
school buildings, culture and tourism.
Cities usually take care of welfare,
environment, housing and urban planning.
The new law does not say exactly how all these
roles should be merged, leaving cities and their
suburbs to work out the details on their own.
Negotiations have been going on across the
country for months.
Provincial public expenditure
In the past 5 years,
provincial public
expenditure has
amounted to €12
billion each year. In
2011 it was €11
billion.
Approximately ¼
covers personnel
expenditures of
60.000 provincial
employees.
In 2011 Mario Monti the Italian prime minister
suggested that all provinces should be abolished and
their administrative duties supplanted by the 20 Italian
Regions but, not surprisingly, nothing happened after
this declaration.
Few months later the government approved a decree that abolished 40
provinces, including:
1. Sardinia lost 6 out of its 8 provinces
2. Tuscany 5 out of its 10
3. Sicily 2 out of 9
4. Umbria 1 out of its 2
5. Molise lost both its provinces
6. Marche 2 out of 5
7. Calabria 3 out of 5
8. Liguria 3 out of 4
9. Friluli 2 out of 4
10. Veneto 2 out of 5
This was an extremely controversial proposal, with very
significant political, financial, administrative and HR
consequences. One-third of the Italian provinces were to
be abolished. Not surprisingly, there was strong
resistance from regions and affected provinces, as well
as labour unions and local politicians. Significant
modifications to the legislative proposal were to be
expected.
This proposal was abolished by the
Constitutional Court in 2013 because the
reform does not made by decree.
On 3 April 2014, the Italian Chamber of Deputies gave its final approval to
the Law n.56/2014 which involves the transformation of the Italian provinces
into "second-level bodies" and the birth of 10 special Metropolitan cities.
[The reorganization to be operative by January 2015].
The new law which transforms the provinces is aimed at their abolition, as a
revision of the second part of the Italian Constitution is needed in order to
change the current bicameral parliamentary system and to abolish.
The Delrio Reforms (by the name of minister) represent a
significant reshuffling of power in Italy. Traditionally, there
have been four levels of government here: national, regional,
provincial and city, leading to complaints of too much red
tape. Under the new law, the provinces will essentially
disappear, at least in the 14 areas where the new
metropolitan cities are being established. In other parts of the
country, provinces will remain but with a diminished role.
“This is the first true institutional reform based on cities and municipalities”
Turin Mayor and current ANCI president Piero Fassino said as the Italian
Parliament gave its final vote. Cities “are institutions closer to citizens and
more appreciated by them.”
Metropolitan cities (CM)
• 12 metropolitan cities have been established
• The territory of the CM is the same as the province
• Functions include:
– Strategic planning
– Territorial planning
– Local public services
– Mobility and traffic
– Economic development
• Governance is based on second level election (the
president of CM is the mayor of the main municipality and
the council is composed by mayors of the municipalities of
the territory).
Provinces
• Governance redefined through second level election
(president ad council composed by a specific number of
mayors of the municipalities of the territory).
• Functions of provinces include:
– Territorial planning
– Transportation planning
– School construction and planning of school networks
– Assistance to municipalities
• These functions are defined by State law. Regions with an own
law must define additional functions delegated to provinces
(the law must be adopted by 31/12/14)
• In September 2014, through an agreement between the State
and regions, regionals observatories to manage the
transformation process were established.
Union of municipalities
• The law encourages unions of municipalities and mergers
• The main feature of DELRIO’s law is that it leaves regions and
municipalities free to decide which functions are entrusted to
the provinces. Every function delegated to the province must
be paid by delegator agencies.
• The government, in relation to the reduction of functions of
provinces, cut €1 billion in 2015, €2 billion in 2016 and €3,5
billion in 2017.
• The same law provides for the redistribution of half of the
employees to other levels of government or agencies.
What has happened so far
• The new provinces were established with the
election of new presidents and councils
But…
• Only 3 regions have enacted the necessary laws
• The provinces are non able to change their services
and their organizations as a lot of them are in
financial crisis.
The implementation of the reform is in serious
danger
The reform is blocked
• The functions are not defined today and no
one takes the responsibility to do so
• The resources are not sufficient to secure the
services of the past and no one takes
responsibility to redefine them
• Employees have not been reallocated and
soon may be no resources to pay their salaries
• The observatories are not working well
The (general) question
• What is better: reform by law (top- down) or
reform by leadership considered like a change
management process (bottom up)?
• Is possible to finance reforms with resources
coming from efficiency gains?