Enti locali, i tempi lenti della riforma

Local Authorities: The Slowness of Reform

Abstract disponibile solo in lingua inglese

This essay reviews the numerous local authority reform provisions issued in Italy in the years 1990-93 and provides initial assessment of the use that has been made of them. Legislation has been innovational on several fronts; from the introduction of municipal statutes to fully acknowledge the autonomy of local communities (law n. 142 of 1990) to general regulations on administrative procedures and rights of citizen participation and access to documents (law n. 241 of 1990) to rules regulating the electioh of mayors and presidents of provincial authorities (law n. 81 of 1993). There has, however, been no immediate change in procedures concerning the exercising of public functions, in relations with citizens or in the provision of services. This is partly because the new laws are inadequate but also, and even more so, because they were issued in what was basically a situation of paralysis in which bureaucratic and administrative inefficiency and ineffectiveness were the norm and public finance, local finance in particular, was experiencing a grave crisis. The fact remains, however, that the new laws have created tools of change, relying largely on an autonomous, differentiated process to achieve new levels of efficiency and democracy in local institutions. It is now up to local communities to make sure that they exploit the new opportunities granted.