La transformación del Estado regional italiano.: Las modificaciones introducidas por las últimas reformas constitucionales (I)

Abstract

The Italian regional Model, set by the Constitution of 1948, has been traditionally presented as a paradigm of political decentralization among unitary States. This essay intends to explain how the recent Constitutional Reform (Acts 1/1999, 2/2001 y 3/2001) transformed such territorial model. After a broad explanation of the main constitutional regulations, the analysis focuses in the structure and powers of government agencies, in the modified allocation of competences at state, regional and local level, as well as in financing autonomy. Attention is also payed on certain structural causes (political and, very specially, socio-economic ones) which have been determinant for the development of competences recognized by the Constitution and the statutes. Finally, from a comparative approach, the Italian reform can be defined as a pattern with own identity. It cannot be assimilated with other models of territorial allocation of power, such a federalism, british devolution or Spanish autonomy.