Nowe uprawnienia włoskich regionów w zakresie spraw zagranicznych

The Italian Regional administration, after the full accomplishment of the Regional legal order (1970), was, by the political choice, excluded from all the forms of participation in international activities, also in the domain of their competence. To get round the problem, however, the Regional administration has launched series of reports with analogous institutions of other states or even with states themselves. The agreements signed in that way, unfortunately, have given place to a strong legal argument with the central government. In this situation, the Constitutional Tribunal, in the well-known sentence n. 179/1987, on one hand, has confirmed the prerogative of the State power to conclude international agreements also in the domain of Regional competence; on the other hand, however, has implemented the regional activities of pure international importance, on the condition that it had obtained the Government assent. In the consequence of the above mentioned implementation, the problem was confined to the procedures able to avoid the violation of this limits by the regional administration. In this way, the decree of the president of Italian Republic from 31th march 1994 was formed. It distinguished the “promotional” activities from the ones of “pure international importance” and regulated the formalities of an obligatory assent of the Government. With the reform of Title V of the second part of the Constitution (2001), it was stipulated that “in the field of its competence the Region can sign contracts with countries and agreements with territorial units within a country in cases and forms regulated by the Sate power” (art. 117, clause 9). The Regional administration, therefore, is being recognised as a external power. The law of the accomplishment (n. 131/2003), however, has reorganised this power both by levelling the agreements to activities of pure international significance (with the obligatory prior Government notification) and, in case of agreements with other States, by stipulating the government prior assignment of full powers. The main problem is, therefore, the application of Principle of one-way loyal collaboration, as the sentence n. 131 is a complex of procedural and substantial obligations which only the Region is responsible for. For that reason, the Constitutional Tribunal has stepped in to partially temper the excessive legal restrictions; in the sentence n. 238/2004, in fact, it is established that the ‘new’ external power of the regions has to be coordinated with the competence of the State, in the way that it does not modify the Regions' autonomy guaranteed by the Constitution. In consequence, the Constitutional Tribunal has established that, if the Government applies the procedures of the sentence n. 131 in an arbitrary manner, the Regions will be allowed to appeal to principle of the conflict of powers.