The Ministry of the Environment cannot decide not to apply a Sardinian law. Only the Constitutional Court can declare it unlawful (and it has done so).

This is what is stated in the ruling of the Constitutional Court, filed today, which upheld the appeals for conflict of jurisdiction brought by the Region for the annulment of several decrees from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security containing environmental impact assessments on renewable energy source (FER) plants in the Oristano and Sassari areas ( READ THE NEWS HERE ).

The "EIA" decrees, relating to projects for the construction of agrivoltaic systems in the provinces of Oristano and Sassari, were adopted without considering the contents of the law on suitable areas.

The Court recalled that in the Italian legal system, Articles 127, 134, and 136 of the Constitution establish a model for challenging regional laws based on subsequent review, which does not preclude their effectiveness, and therefore their application, even when challenged, until the Court itself has declared them unconstitutional. It was therefore decided that the Ministry was not entitled to adopt the contested decrees without applying the applicable regional legislation. Therefore, the green light provisions were annulled.

The events at the center of the dispute date back to April of last year. In December, however, the law was declared unconstitutional by the Court, which had the authority to do so.

Enrico Fresu

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