Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government, in its various ministerial divisions, does not fail to reserve many points for reflection in August. Lastly, Matteo Salvini, at the helm of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, according to what the most important press agencies report, announced that he felt "overwhelmed with (wanting) to reintroduce the Provinces", and announced that he wanted to do so together with a return to the mechanism of direct election of the President and of the Provincial Council.

Assuming and not granting that the Provinces have ever been de facto cancelled/abolished (perhaps they would seem to no longer exist only as a political body), and there would be so much to say on the specific aspect, what would be the need, on a teleological level, to such an extent stringent arisen and/or strengthened, it would seem, in the context of a meeting in Forte dei Marmi with local administrators? What sense would it make, currently, in a moment of pressing economic difficulty, to restore substance (because this would probably be more precisely what it would be about) to an intermediate administrative body called precisely to act as an intermediary between the various municipalities and the Region if, in the meantime , have various metropolitan cities been established whose reference territory would seem to coincide with that of the historic provinces?

To say it simply: over the years, everything would seem to have transformed and nothing would seem to have been destroyed in the absence of a constitutionally relevant reform that has never intervened on the point. But, beyond any stringent technical-juridical remark, it really seems, and rather, that recent political history has left no trace of any teaching, and even if it had, probably that "teaching" of which should have been treasured, it would seem to have been forgotten and/or shelved.

Yet perhaps it would be sufficient to recall the events, and the related debates, which developed on the subject in the midst of the so-called fourth "Berlusconi Government", which resulted from the political experience of Mario Monti on the basis of the need to bring the country's economic situation back into coherence to say it simply became critical, according to the "community" findings of the time, precisely because of the persistence in the Territory of expensive intermediate bodies. But, even without wanting to bother with that government experience, "mutatis mutandis", the point, to date, would seem to be another, if only one considers that the political reconsideration of the Provincial body, in its essential lines, and barring liminal differences, it would seem to find its driving force both in the understanding of the centre-right, and in that of the centre-left, including the 5 Star Movement.

Whether we want to start from a failed constitutional reform to return to the regulatory and functional structure prior to the Del Rio Law in order to restore consistency on a substantial level to that coveted instrumental pairing which places the exercise of autonomy in direct connection with the expression of the mechanisms of politics strictly understood would seem to be clear. But, let's be clear: even if we want to consider and concede everything, the return to a past that now seems to be too distant in time to be effectively re-evaluated, does not seem to be a useful way forward, since the country's territorial scenario not only appears largely changed in its various articulations, but also, and indeed, very little adaptable to a "restitutio" operated "sic et simpliciter" without consideration of the transformations that have occurred in the meantime.

Who would benefit today from the return of the Provincial Authority to its weakened function upstream of constant intermediality? What would be the advantage that can be pursued today in terms of the administration of the territorial community understood as a unit? What would be the role of government to be recognized to the Provincial Authority in terms of competences since it is an institution, in its original connotation, supra-municipal and sub-regional? And how could it relate, in the strictest terms of coexistence, with the so-called Metropolitan Cities that today seem to dominate it?

The regulatory situation that would be redetermined may not be easy to interpret and/or manage. Meanwhile, because on 6 May 2012, about ten regional referendums were already held in Sardinia, five of which were abrogative and five consultative. Therefore, because one of advisory importance had concerned the abrogation of the four historical provinces of the region, namely Cagliari, Sassari, Nuoro and Oristano. Furthermore, because some others, abrogations, had as their object the abrogation of the provinces then newly instituted, i.e. Carbonia-Iglesias, Medio Campidano, Ogliastra and Olbia-Tempio, established precisely with a regional law in 2005. Finally, because both popular referendums had had a positive outcome, triggering a reform process that was anything but simple, resulting in the regional law of the 4th of February of the year 2016, n. 2: "Reorganization of the system of local self-government in Sardinia" with which the new structure of large area entities was approved.

It is also true, however, that on 12 March 2022 the Consulta ruled in favor of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia with sentence number 68, effectively giving the green light to the re-establishment of the provinces suppressed with the popular referendum, creating, probably not a little internal coordination difficulties.

Perhaps it would be necessary to re-evaluate the "imprinting" that the popular will called to express itself on the referendum level is really suitable for exercising before proceeding with further political initiatives which would risk not being perfectly understood by the community of associates. Especially in a historical moment in which the contingent needs seem to be different, and of a more stringent nature, due to their relevance in the management of daily life. And all the more so when it remains very difficult to explain, in the current moment of constant economic crisis and current inflation, the reason for the "revival" of an institution that has always been considered a center of waste. And even more so when the desire to concentrate on a political debate that is currently not exactly stringent does not seem to act as a useful signal for a country such as Italy, which needs to resume the path of economic growth that the pandemic phase first and then the war seem to have compromised.

Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro

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