The Abruzzo Regional Assembly (Consiglio Regionale dell’Abruzzo) was established in 1970.
Number of Members of Parliament
45
Length of the parliamentary mandate
Five years.
Mode of selection of the Members of Parliament
Direct election using the “largest remainder” method: a specified number of members are automatically elected en bloc from a regional list linked to the presidential candidate. For further information, see the Statute of the Region of Abruzzo, available here (IT).
Population included in the constituency of the regional parliament
1.342.366 inhabitants.
- Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
- List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
- Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
- Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
- Subsidiarity check
- Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
- Cooperation/coordination at the central level
- Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
- Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative:
The Regional Assembly, like those of the other Italian regions, exercises its legislative competences in accordance with the provisions of Article 117 of the Italian Constitution. More specifically, Article 117(2) specifies legislative matters that are exclusive to the state, such as immigration, defense, citizenship and social security; Article 117(3) lays down legislative matters that are concurrent between the state and the regions, such as scientific research, health protection, land-use planning and communications; whilst Article 117(4) specifies legislative matters that are, on a residual basis, exclusive to the regions and therefore concern all those matters not covered by the first two paragraphs of Article 117. Moreover, the Regional Assembly is responsible for approving the regional budget. For further information, please refer to the Italian Constitution (available here (EN)) and the Statute of the Region of Abruzzo (see link above).
Non-legislative:
The Regional Assembly is inter alia responsible for controlling the Regional Government (Article 48 of the Statute of the Region of Abruzzo) and for appointing two members to the regional Court of Audit (Article 85 of the Statute of the Region of Abruzzo). For further information, see the Statute of the Region of Abruzzo (link above).
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The Regional Assembly includes the following Standing Committees:
- Committee I on Financial and General Affairs;
- Committee II on Regional Government, Public Works and the Organisation of Official and Local Authorities;
- Committee III on Agriculture;
- Committee IV on Trade, Industry and Tourism;
- Committee V on Social Affairs and Health Protection;
- Committee VI on European and International Policy and International Programs of the European Commission;
- Monitoring Committee.
For further information, see here (IT).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
Committee VI on European and International Policy and International Programs of the European Commission.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
The staff working for Committee VI includes one manager, one official and two administrative assistants.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): Selective.
Procedure: : The Regional Assembly does currently not carry out any subsidiarity checks. A regional Act was nonetheless adopted on 10 July 2012 (No. 199/2), which contains a provision on subsidiarity monitoring. According to Article 3 a) of the Act:
1. The Regional Assembly, in conjunction with the Regional Government shall check whether EU draft legislation respects the subsidiarity principle, using the tools provided by national and European inter-institutional cooperation to do so.
2. The outcome of the subsidiarity check shall take the form of a resolution of the Regional Assembly’s Committee on European Affairs, in line with the provisions of the Rules of Procedure governing the Regional Assembly’s work.
3. The resolution referred to above shall be sent to the Regional Government, both chambers of the Italian Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the Conference of Chairmen of the Legislative Parliaments of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces.
The Act, however, has not yet entered into force. In order to make the above-mentioned monitoring activity possible, the Rules of Procedure governing the Regional Assembly’s work first need to be amended. The Regional Assembly intends to conduct selective checks on European draft legislation that is of interest to the region, at least in the trial phase.
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
Pursuant to Regional Act 22/2009, the Regional Assembly and the Regional Government have established various forms of cooperation, both from a top-down perspective in terms of transposing European legislation into regional legislation, and from a bottom-up perspective in terms of the region's involvement in shaping European law. The various forms of cooperation are formalized in bureau decisions and regional executive resolutions adopted by agreement. Moreover, the technical structures work in close cooperation.
As mentioned above, the Regional Act governing subsidiarity checks by the region (Act 199/2) has only recently been introduced (and has not yet entered into force). It states that the above-mentioned checks are to be carried out “also in agreement with the regional executive.”
Cooperation/coordination at the central level
The mechanism for forwarding EU legislative proposals is laid down at federal level and has two separate channels for regional executives and assemblies.
Twice a week, the Regional Assembly receives EU laws, EU draft legislative acts and preparatory acts from the Prime Minister's office via the europ@ database system, through the Conference of Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces. This forwarding mechanism was established by an agreement signed on 20 July 2009 between the Central Government and the Conference of Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces, implementing the provisions of Law No. 11 of 4 February 2005. The europ@ system is part of the Department for Community Policies portal, which can be accessed by institutions in order to make comments and assessments on all EU acts and documents, including those not forwarded via the lists.
As for the relations between national and regional parliaments, there is no regulated procedure for cooperation yet. Nevertheless, a system has recently been introduced by the Senate’s 14th Committee for forwarding lists of EU proposals requiring a subsidiarity check via the Conference of the Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces with a detailed schedule of the work of the parliamentary committees involved in the procedure.
The comments made by regional parliaments are sent to the committees in the Italian Parliament that are responsible for the subject-matter concerned by the European draft legislation and for European Affairs. These committees draft an opinion, which may refer to the position adopted by the regions.
Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
The Regional Assembly cooperates with other regional parliaments via the Conference of Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, a body that promotes the institutional role of the assemblies of the regions and autonomous provinces, and acts as a hub for coordination and exchange of experiences regarding the legislative assemblies' areas of interest. The cooperation exists both on a technical level – by participating in the working group on European affairs – and on a political level – through the participation of one Member of Parliament per regional parliament in the coordinating Committee of Chairs of European Affairs Committees. For further information, see www.parlamentiregionali.it (IT).
Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
The Regional Assembly participates in CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies). Moreover, the President of the Regional Assembly has regular contacts with the European institutions.
