The constitutionalist to Adnkronos: “Established unconstitutionality could be reflected in a defect on all contracts in which metropolitan cities participate, including school buildings and roads. To resolve it, an ordinary law that introduces a new method of electing metropolitan mayor is sufficient”
The reform on metropolitan cities, albeit in the context of a ruling of inadmissibility, was considered by the council to be inconsistent with the Constitution, in particular as regards the identification of the mayor. “The Court’s request cannot go unheeded. The ascertained unconstitutionality could, in fact, be reflected in a defect in all the contracts in which metropolitan cities participate, with the consequent danger of losing funds in areas of intervention such as school construction or the provincial roads “. To draw attention to the recent sentence, n. 240 of 2021, of the Constitutional Court is Francesco Saverio Marini, Full Professor of Public Law at Tor Vergata University and Vice President of the Presidency Council of the Court of Auditors that to the Adnkronos declares: “To avoid the risk of litigation or even the definition of a part of the Pnrr, action must be taken immediately. It can be resolved quickly. An ordinary law that introduces a new modality for the election of the mayor is sufficient metropolitan, involving all municipalities “.
Marini, who also chaired this year the Commission on Rome Capital, set up by the Minister for Regional Affairs Maria Stella Gelmini to change the architecture of powers for Rome by studying and preparing possible legal models, explains: “the Court in judgment 240 -2021 ascertained unconstitutionality, without annulling the law, in compliance with the discretion of the Parliament. The problem concerns the identification of the metropolitan mayor who currently coincides with that of the provincial capital, as this undermines the right to vote of citizens of all municipalities that should instead participate in the election. Today, therefore, the metropolitan mayor does not respond to the people he administers. A fact that, declined on the funds of the Pnrr on whose use also the metropolitan cities intervene, could trigger a plurality of disputes and appeals for defects in the documents in the implementation of the Plan, risking to stall access to funds “.
Solution? “The Court urged the urgency of a legislative intervention. An ordinary law would be enough to introduce a new method of electing the metropolitan mayor involving all the municipalities or all the citizens of the Metropolitan City. In short, direct or indirect election could be envisaged ( that is, in which all the first citizens vote for the province) of mayor and institutional bodies. However, everyone must be involved in the election “, replies the constitutionalist.
Among other things, the Court’s ruling “should be a stimulus to Parliament on the need for significant constitutional reforms on the issue of territorial levels of government. we can forget the theme of Rome Capital, on which – concludes Marini – the consensus is already transversal and to the attention of Parliament “.
(by Roberta Lanzara)
Source-www.adnkronos.com