“Democratic emergency!” From the electoral law to regional autonomy, the left is preparing appeals to the Constitutional Court

When in trouble, turn to the Constitutional Court. Forget the heatwave. On the left, the summer of great democratic alarm has now been in full swing for several weeks. For the likes of Elly Schlein, Giuseppe Conte, Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni, this is a greater cause for concern than the unusually high temperatures. And so, across the broad political spectrum, for every major issue they find themselves dealing with, at a certain point – after much pensive deliberation – they arrive at the same conclusion: ‘What if we were to take the route of a constitutional appeal?’. At AVS, they’re already working on it to bring the Stabilicum to its knees. Meanwhile, the presidents of two centre-left regions – Antonio Decaro of Puglia and Roberto Fico of Campania – have their appeal to the Constitutional Court against ‘differentiated autonomy’ all ready to go. Opposing the extension of the right to self-defence? You already know the answer.

Yesterday, the Chamber of Deputies gave the green light to the resolutions concerning the preliminary agreements on autonomy reached between the government and the regions of Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont. But even before this approval was granted – which must now still be followed by the Council of Ministers’ approval of individual bills for each of the regions involved – a southern governor, such as Antonio Decaro of Puglia, had already made clear what the strategy would be to oppose the reform sought by the centre-right: “We will certainly appeal to the Constitutional Court, and I hope that Campania and other southern regions will do the same. If no action is taken, there is a risk of creating a gap between the north and the south that will be difficult to bridge,” said the PD representative. This call was promptly taken up by his colleague Roberto Fico, president of Campania representing the M5S: “The Campania region will take every possible step to ensure that, including through the relevant courts, this process of dividing our country is halted,” Fico emphasised. He elaborated on the precedent set in 2024, when “the Constitutional Court had declared many parts of the autonomy law to be unlawful. A lesson should have been learnt from this, yet instead we are pressing ahead and, unfortunately, this idea of a multi-speed Italy is taking shape”. In short, the hope now is to replicate, through the courts, the setback that caused the government to lose time. And to make it clear that this will be the line taken by the entire coalition, even at national level, one need only look at what Schlein said yesterday, when she spoke of “a country that will remain one and indivisible, despite you”. According to her, what was approved yesterday is the result of “a nefarious trade-off between autonomy and electoral law”. ‘This government is trying to push through differentiated autonomy, despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling which dismantled the framework of the Calderoli law; despite this, the government continues to press ahead, whistling as it goes – by now, that’s what they do best.’ The opposition then staged a protest, brandishing placards in the chamber, just as they had done with the ‘Stabilicum’.

On the subject of electoral law: the great threat to democracy – with the Constitution in hand – must be tackled with the appropriate and rigorous tools, according to the diverse progressive camp. For this reason, particularly within AVS, they have been working for weeks with legal experts to determine how and when – should the electoral law also be approved by the Senate – to lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court. +Europa is prepared to do the same. Such an appeal could, moreover, have a ‘positive’ impact on the text because, even according to the majority itself, ‘closed lists could be deemed unconstitutional’, explains a centre-right MP. In that case, the amendments introduced by the Constitutional Court could be directly applicable to the next general election. The PD is also monitoring the situation very closely, following the referral of the bill to the Constitutional Affairs Committee yesterday in the Senate, where, under the rules of procedure, there can be no more than 26 hearings (compared to 72 in the Chamber of Deputies). As had been mooted in recent weeks, there are those who do not even rule out a united front (in this case also backed by the Five Star Movement) to call for a further referendum, following the one on the justice system. This is a way, intended primarily by Schlein (but also by Conte), to try to capitalise on the work of the standing committees that have remained active since the ‘No’ victory in March. What is certain is that the protests against the law will not stop, such as the more than 100 organised by the Demo Foundation, chaired by Gianni Cuperlo. And the appeal to the Constitutional Court is expected to be backed by a coalition of organisations including Giustizia Insieme, Articolo 21 and Gruppo Costituzione e Democrazia.

However, this is not the only item on the broad coalition’s summer agenda. For even regarding the potential (not to be understood solely as Vannaccian-style but generally as probable) measures to extend the guarantees of self-defence, the Left does not rule out a similar strategy, consisting of legal challenges and court documents to sum up the ‘no pasaran’ stance. We do not know whether there will be a ‘hot autumn’, but certainly, if there is, it will be preceded by a summer of red legal challenges. Even if, as the band CCCP would sing, ‘the alibi doesn’t hold up and the evidence eludes us’. Speaking of cause for alarm.