The Italian Republic is heading for a major reform of its Title V (relating to regions, provinces and municipalities), and the governments of the five special autonomous territories have placed themselves on alert because of the fear that the changes involve curtailing their powers. Their fear stems from the fact that the constitutional amendment, as put forward by PM Matteo Renzi's government, intends to cut some powers from ordinary statute regions (all Italy's regions, except for the five special ones).

The presidents of the five special autonomies (Aosta Valley, Trentino-South Tyrol, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sicily and Sardinia, see map) recall that powers currently held by their territories (which are larger than the powers of ordinary statute regions) are constitutionally guaranteed, and thus they can not be reformed without their agreement. The President of the Council of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Franco Iacop, argues that the constitutional amendment should include a "safeguard clause" for the special statutes, a sort of legal shield that prevents them from being emptied of powers in any case. South Tyrol and Trento leaders agree with Friuli-Venezia Giulia on this.

The Aosta Valley Council defends a similar position. It also recalls the need for financial resources to be allocated to each territory taking into account the different roles and powers exercised by their governments. This means that special autonomies should continue to have more resources than ordinary statute regions, since they must implement more policies.

Escaping from ordinary statutes

Ordinary statute regions, according to the proposed reform of Title V, will see their powers reduced. Renzi's government wants several powers currently shared between the central government and regions to become exclusive jurisdiction of the former. In short, it will lead to a re-centralization of powers. Thus, the central government will re-take the exclusive ability to legislate in areas such as coordination of public finance and taxation, universities, general rules on health and safety at work, and foreign trade. Up till now, these powers are concurrent, what means that they are a shared responsibility between the central government and the regions.

Being aware of this trend, several ordinary statute regions are intending to be recognized as special autonomy regions. One of the clearest cases is Veneto, whose President Luca Zaia was yesterday proposing in Rome that his territory becomes the sixth special autonomy in Italy. He got no positive answer. Within two months, the Veneto Council is set to decide on whether a referendum on special autonomy, and another on independence, should be called.

Veneto is not the only ordinary statute region demanding special autonomy. A few days ago Lombardy President Roberto Maroni announced he also wanted to call a referendum on special autonomy. According to Maroni's proposal, Lombardy should keep 100% of the taxes collected in the region: "Something not very different from [becoming] Europe's 29th state", he said.

Special statutes were devised at the time of the foundation of the Italian Republic in order to accommodate territories who had significant differences, be them linguistic (Aosta Valley and South Tyrol, and later, Friuli-Venezia Giulia) or geographical (Sardinia and Sicily). Some decades after, the debate is whether those differences continue to justify that only those areas should enjoy special autonomy, or whether those differentiated statutes can also be demanded by other regions.