They invoked it loudly, from Montiferru to Campidano, from Nurra to Sulcis, passing through Barbagia and Gallura. The spontaneous committees against the wind and photovoltaic invasion, which have sprung up in every corner of the island, have urged it in every way, before and after the electoral campaign. The key word was "moratorium". In reality, however, behind that apparently legal term, the most equivocal and ambiguous meanings of law are hidden. Certainly the popular uprising that is taking place on the ridges and agricultural fields of the island had something completely different in mind.

From stop to harmony

From the assemblies of Nuraxi Figus to those of Tempio, from those of Seneghe to those of Nurra, the objective was clearly spelled out: stop the devastation of the island in any way. In a short time, however, that univocal meaning of "stop the invasion", in the palaces of politics, became something else, first marked with the definition of "suitable areas" and then, worsening day after day, with the ' incipit of the last act of the Regional Council which invokes "the objective of promoting the regulated and harmonious development of wind and photovoltaic energy production and storage systems" .

Boomerang effect

In short, as if to say that we must try to make a wind turbine in front of the Nuragic Palace of Barumini or Santu Antine in Torralba become "harmonious". Difficult task, even for communicators of the impossible. The announcements have been repeated for days, as if the Lords of the wind had been rejected on a par with the exploits of Sa die de sa Sardigna in 1794. Of course, the wind and solar assault has now, more than ever, become the " thema decidendum " of the Regional government, the first legislative act to which the new Regional Council is called, is the absolute priority of the entire Sardinian political class. The reality, however, is quite different: behind every measure there are pitfalls, dangers and contradictions, which sometimes risk transforming even good intentions into a boomerang with no way out.

I draw, not read

First of all, the provision approved by the Regional Council. Technically it's not a law. It is not even a decree-law, whose effectiveness would be immediate but would have a short life, just sixty days, within which Parliament can convert it, with any amendments, into a real law. The Sardinian Region, however, does not have the power of decree. When the Regional Council wants to advance its own legislative proposal, it must approve the text and send it to the Regional Council for its examination and possible approval. The Council's proposal, in this case, is a "Bill". Not a small step in terms of regulatory effectiveness: to date, in fact, with the approval of that provision by the Regional Council, nothing has changed. The "lords of the wind" are, for now, safe because the text-proposal approved by the executive has no effect. The only provision that can have an impact is a law from the Regional Council, if it intervenes directly on the heart of the problem, without labyrinths and waste of time. Therefore, just any law is not enough, not a provision in favor of cameras, but we need a regulation capable of really having an impact on the serious risk of devastation that looms over the island.

Montesquieu and useless laws

Montesquieu, the most famous of jurists and philosophers of law, loved to repeat: " Useless laws weaken necessary ones ". The Regional Council is therefore called, today more than ever, to face a real emergency: to approve a "necessary" law, avoiding "useless" ones. The first theme is to act quickly and effectively against the assault "violent" that Sardinia is suffering from multinationals descending on the island from all latitudes, from the Chinese to the Americans. In this direction, therefore, the ability of a rule to really impact the decision-making process regarding the presentation of hundreds of devastating ones must be examined. pseudo-energy projects in every corner of the island.

Irreversible risk

The bill that the council proposed to the Regional Council, if it were approved as such, risks, in fact, turning into a real boomerang , with irreversible consequences. In summary: the Sardinian regional council has proposed to the legislative assembly a bill that blocks for 18 months the sole "construction" of wind and photovoltaic power plants. This means that for a year and a half, in theory, the start of construction work on new wind turbines and new expanses of photovoltaic panels will be prohibited. However, the authorization process for the approval of those hundreds of projects already under examination by the Ministry of the Environment and the Sardinian Region itself will not be blocked. In practice, the "lords of the wind" will be able to use the 18 months of that improperly defined "moratorium" to have the projects presented or to be presented approved, both in Rome and in Cagliari.

Authorization "bubble".

The result would be devastating: in 18 months a real authorization "bubble" could be generated, giving the green light to many projects which would be approved and authorized in a year and a half. At that point, any restrictive regulation would be of no use, be it contained in an updated or expanded landscape plan, or other regulations on suitable areas, for the simple reason that neither of the two hypotheses could have a retroactive effect on the avalanche of projects already approved in the "theoretical" or "phantom" moratorium period of 18 months. To this would be added an unprecedented aggravating circumstance: the "lords" of the wind and the sun would at that point have received an " acquired right ", which no one will be able to revoke, except for the payment of exorbitant economic damage for the public administration and therefore for public coffers. In short, to paraphrase Montesquieu, risk is not only a useless law, but even a harmful one.

Long and late times

In the 18 months of "apparent" truce, the Regional Council promises to " update and complete the Regional Landscape Plan " and " approve the map of suitable areas ". To avoid irreversible consequences, we need to be realistic: the time needed to process these documents and the consequent approvals are objectively so long that we would end up arriving too late, when most of the wind and photovoltaic projects will have already been "irreversibly" approved and authorised. In short, we would be faced with late, ineffective, ultimately absolutely useless and even dangerous regulations in their effects.

Necessary rules

For this reason it appears essential to pursue "necessary" standards. In this case, the Sardinian Statute, a constitutional law, the implementing rules and the authoritative pronouncements on the matter of the highest Court of Laws come to the aid of the regional legislator. The supporters of the invasion of the island, who also exist in Sardinian institutions, are confident in the rejection of any law regarding the protection of Sardinia by the Constitutional Court and the Administrative Courts. A risk that should not be excluded, but which, for this very reason, must be carefully avoided, starting precisely from the precise identification of the competences that the Constitution and, in strengthening terms, both the Statute and the implementation rules, attribute to the Sardinian Region . A decisive step capable of accelerating and placing under maximum constitutional protection a rule "legally anchored" to the "urban planning" function rather than to the excessively contested competence of "landscape protection".

Urban planning, keystone

The key, in short, is an immediate, binding and effective rule that structurally prohibits these territorial devastations by resorting to the only exclusive jurisdiction applicable to this emergency: that of urban planning. An "exclusive" competence attributed to Sardinia in the Constituent Assembly when, in 1948, the year of approval of the Statute, the letter "f" was introduced in article 3, which recognizes the primary attribution of matters on "Building" to the Region and Urban Planning".

Effective blocking is needed

It is on this competence that we need to intervene immediately to put a serious and concrete permanent block on this invasion of wind turbines and expanses of silicon panels on agricultural land. That the blocking of wind and photovoltaic projects is, in no uncertain terms, a matter of exclusive relevance to the Region was abundantly clear by the Constitutional Court with sentence no. 51 of 2006. A ruling that leaves no room for doubt.

Sardinia owner

Rejecting the State's appeal against a law on urban planning in Sardinia, the Constitutional Judges decided without appeal: " it is necessary to clarify the nature and scope of the powers vested in the Sardinia Region in relation to the regulated objects, also noting from now on that the appellant ( the Government ed) has in no way taken into account either the presence, in terms of landscape protection, of specific rules implementing the special statute of the Sardinia Region, nor the very existence of a dating legislation of the same Region in this specific area (law of the Sardinia Region 22 December 1989, n. 45, containing "Regulations for the use and protection of the regional territory") and of which the provisions contested in the present proceedings represent a partial modification and integration" .

The "transferred" Ministry

In other words: Sardinia not only has exclusive power in matters of "Building and Urban Planning", but it even has exclusive powers in matters not strictly urban planning. The Court writes: « The repeated statements contained in the appeal of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers first of all do not take into consideration that Chapter III of the decree of the President of the Republic of 22 May 1975, n. 480 (New implementation rules of the special statute of the autonomous region of Sardinia), entitled "Building and urban planning", concerns not only strictly urban planning functions, but also functions relating to cultural heritage and environmental heritage; in fact, the art. 6 expressly provides, in paragraph 1, that «the powers already exercised by the central and peripheral bodies of the Ministry of Education and attributed to the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage as well as by the central and peripheral bodies of other ministries are transferred to the Autonomous Region of Sardinia » .

Urban planning & landscape

At the same time, the Constitutional Court recalls, there is the "Implementation Rule" of 1975 which entrusts the Sardinian Region « also with the drafting and approval of the territorial landscape plans, referred to in the art. 5 of the law of 29 June 1939, n. 1497 ". The constitutional togas, " ad adiuvandum " add: " it is clear that the Sardinia Region also has, in the exercise of its statutory powers in terms of construction and urban planning, the power to intervene in relation to landscape-environmental protection profiles ". The Court writes of all this " both on an administrative and legislative level" . For this reason there is no need to waste any more time with dilatory, ineffective and late regulations. The Statute attributes exclusive competence over urban planning to the Region, without intruding into competences that some might consider competing with the State, such as "landscape". The "Urban Planning" function for the Sardinian Region is indisputably an exclusive matter, not contestable, sufficient to immediately prohibit, and without "time-wasting" rules, the disaster that would otherwise overwhelm Sardinia. Effective and, to say it with Montesquieu, necessary rules, to avoid useless and harmful ones.

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