With less than three weeks left before the autonomy referendums scheduled to be held by Veneto and Lombardy this month, it appears that it will take more than the approval of a majority of voters for these regions to obtain the status they desire.
Andrea Morrone, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Bologna, told Sputnik Italia that both of these referendums are quite similar, as both regions ask their voters to endow them with greater authority.
"It is important to distinguish between independence and autonomy. Independence implies secession, which, according to the federal and regional constitutions, is illegal; this is what we can currently observe in Catalonia. However, it is possible to alter the relationship between the state and its regions by granting the latter greater autonomy, though this path is not devoid of problems either," he said.
"Veneto and Lombardy hold these referendums merely to attain greater political approval for their initiative, to stand a better chance of gaining more rights. We’re talking about a vote that merely precedes yet-to-be-implemented procedures that hold real clout," Morrone explained.
According to Professor Morrone, the issue of Italy’s federalization has been debated for 25 years now, and in 2001 the country even considered a constitutional reform that "should’ve helped resolve matters with Lega Nord, which demanded the secession of Italy’s northern regions."
"The goal of the reform was to grant the regions greater autonomy. This, however, became problematic because a transition from a unitary decentralized state to a federated state is not easy, especially in a country with such a large gap between north and south, east and west. There’s also the rather complicated issue of the redistribution of funding across Italy. All in all, we’re still at square one," the professor surmised.
The Italian regions of Veneto and Lombardy are expected to hold referendums on seeking autonomous status on October 22.
