Suitable areas, the Council of State pushes the law proposed by the Region
The Administrative Court of Appeal freezes the part of the ministerial decree that allows for a more restrictive local regulation on the areas where it is possible to install systemsPer restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
The Council of State has suspended as a precautionary measure, until the conclusion of the judgment on the merits at the TAR, a passage of the ministerial decree on suitable areas, which gives the Regions the power to consider unsuitable even the areas deemed suitable by Legislative Decree 199 of 2021.
The appeal judges, according to what has emerged, have established that the Regions cannot define the suitable areas in a more restrictive sense than what is established on a transitional basis by the legislative decree, until the case is decided on the merits. The hearing on the merits of the pending appeals, including that of Erg, is scheduled for February 5 before the Lazio Regional Administrative Court.
The order of the Council of State suspends art. 7 paragraph 2 letter c) of the decree on suitable areas of June 2023 and risks limiting, if not nullifying, the legislative activity of the Sardinian Region which, in these very days, is discussing the bill on the identification of suitable areas for the construction of renewable energy plants on the Island.
The judges of the fourth section of the administrative court of second instance warn the Regions that "without prejudice to the exercise by the Region of the legislative autonomy that it is entitled to under the Constitution" they will have to take "into account the suspension of the provision of the ministerial decree carried out with this ordinance". According to the Council of State, in fact, "the provision in question appears, upon summary examination of this very precautionary phase, not to be fully compliant with art. 20, paragraph 8, of Legislative Decree 199/2021, which already lists the areas considered as suitable: in this primary level discipline there does not seem to be room for a more restrictive regional discipline".
The Panel does not consider, then, "the conflict with the objectives of the PNRR feared by the defense of the administration to exist". First of all, "the contested decree continues to be in force in its entirety, except for the suspended provision". Furthermore, "it would be the suspended provision that goes in the opposite direction , given that it could introduce a component of uncertainty in a framework already defined by the law".
According to the judges who accepted the suspension requested in the appeals filed by some companies operating in the field of renewable energy, "the Regions are required to provide for this with a legislative act, even if it is substantially administrative in content. This act, as is well known, can only be challenged before the Constitutional Court, within the limits provided for this remedy, which are not exactly superimposable to those permitted by the ordinary challenge of an administrative act. Consequently, in the absence of precautionary protection, a decision on the merits could be made at a time when the projects of interest to the appellant could no longer be implemented due to the effect of the subsequent regional law, with damage to the principle of the effectiveness of jurisdictional protection".
Meanwhile, the work of the Regional Council will resume on Tuesday 19th at 10 am, busy these days discussing the bill on areas suitable for hosting renewable energy plants in Sardinia. The session scheduled for this afternoon at 5 pm has therefore been postponed
see you next week.
The fourth and fifth committees, in a joint session since 12, have not in fact completed the examination of the approximately 1,700 amendments presented to the text. President Comandini has therefore decided to convene the Council directly next week. In the meantime, it remains to be seen what the women of the committee against energy speculation will do, who since last night have been occupying the public galleries inside the Chamber to protest against the lack of discussion of the popular initiative law Pratobello 24, which has collected over 211 thousand signatures . But the majority has decided to give priority to the bill on suitable areas. President Comandini is trying to convince the group to desist.
(Online Union)