SOMMARIO:
1. Il «rilancio del nucleare» in Italia al vaglio della Consulta.
2. Gli interventi urgenti in materia di produzione di energia e l’apporto di capitali privati: i prodromi della contesa.
3. Le coordinate costituzionali e le competenze legislative.
4. Il «principio del sacrificio».
5. Le intese «forti» e «de- boli» ed il «diritto di veto» regionale.
6. Il potere sostitutivo atipico.
7. L’interesse nazionale e le scelte di politica energetica oltre il referendum abrogativo.
The Italian Constitutional Court evaluated the new legal discipline of nuclear energy balancing national and regional interests in energy policy.The Constitutional Court’s decisions brought out the prevalence of national interests over local ones, the constitutional legitimacy of the procedures for horizontal collaboration between the State and the regions and of the substitute power in case of «regional veto».
In particular, the Court, by decision n. 215/2010, declared Art. 4(1, 2, 3 and 4) of Decree-Law n. 78/2009 (converted by Law n. 103/2009) to be unconstitutional because, by contravening Arts. 117.3, 118.1 and 118.2 of the Italian Constitution, the State put private economic operators in charge of the construction of new nuclear plants.The State, as the Court affirmed, is responsible of the unitary exercise of the normative power for such a strategic task.
Moreover, by decision n. 331/2010, declaring some regional norms unconstitutional, the Court established that the Region cannot challenge decisions of the State which deal with national production, transport, and distribution of energy, or which concern the protection of the environment. As decision n. 331/2010 established, a Region is not free to deny approval for the siting of new nuclear plants within its territory.
The legal regime of cooperation in siting matters, setting out by Law n. 99/2009 and especially by Legislative Decree n. 31/2010, was declared constitutional by decision n. 278/2010. Nevertheless, decision n. 33/2011 declared Art. 4 of Legislative Decree n. 31/2010 to be unconstitutional: the Single Authorization cannot be issued unless the Region involved in the siting procedure expresses its own non-binding opinion. Stated briefly, a Region cannot deny the siting of new nuclear plants contrary to the decision of the State; however, in light of the principle of fair cooperation, the involved Region must express its opinion.
Despite a specific abrogation coming from the Italian Parliament, the popular referendum of June, 12 and 13, 2011, deleted all the key-norms of the new Italian nuclear regime.The abrogation did not erased the legacy of the Constitutional Court in terms of energy policy and national interests, relations between different levels of government, institutional forms of collaboration and their decisional limits.
|