The Friuli-Venezia Giulia Regional Assembly (Consiglio Regionale del Friuli Venezia Giulia ) was established in 1963.
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative: Friuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the five Italian regions having special status. As stated in the Region's Special Statute, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Regional Assembly holds primary legislative power in areas such as agriculture, hunting and fishing, industry and trade, roadways, tourism and culture.
The Regional Assembly holds concurrent legislative power (subject to the general restrictions stipulated in Article 4, and to the basic principles laid down in the State laws in this regard (framework laws)) in relation to fields such as health, local police, cooperation, regional taxes, vocational training, etc (Article 5 of the Special Statute).
Lastly, the Regional Assembly holds supplementary-implementation powers in areas such as education, employment, social welfare and assistance, protection of the landscape and cultural assets, as well as in other areas in which the State law attributes such powers to the region (Article 6 of the Special Statute). In these domains, the region can implement and supplement State law (but cannot repeal it).
As a result of the 2001 constitutional reform (Constitutional Act no 3/2001), which extended the areas in which the Italian regions hold concurrent legislative competence and which gave the regions greater legislative autonomy in other fields, the State holds (exclusive or concurrent) legislative powers only in expressly defined areas. The regions have legislative powers in all other areas (exclusive-residual power). The reform also applies to the 'special regions' (regioni a statuto speciale), inasmuch as it extends their autonomy until the adjustment of the special statutes (which has not yet taken place).
For further information, see the Special Statute of the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (see link above).
Non-legislative: The Regional Assembly is inter alia responsible for controlling the Regional Government.
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
There are six Standing Committees:
- Committee I inter alia on Budget and Planning, Credit, Finance, Taxes, Accounting, Property and Assets, Organisation of the Region, Institutions and Agencies;
- Committee II inter alia on Agriculture and Forestry, Development of Mountains, Fishing
and Aquaculture, Industry, Trade, Tourism and Service Sectors, Protection of Consumers;
- Committee Iii inter alia on Health, Social Services, Nutrition, Immigration;
- Committee Iv inter alia on Public Works, Construction, Expropriation, Planning
Land, Roads, Transportation, Ports and Civil Airports, Navigation, Environmental Protection;
- Committee V inter alia on Institutional Affairs, Elections, External Relations with the EU;
- Committee VI inter alia on Scientific and Technological Research, Education, Culture, Youth.
For further information, see
here (IT).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
Standing Committee V, whose remit includes external relations with the EU.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
There is no staff specifically in charge of subsidiarity monitoring but the staff of the Standing Committee V includes one manager and two officials.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): Selective.
Procedure: No subsidiarity checks are currently carried out, but there are plans to perform such checks on a case-by-case basis in the future. Committee V will identify the relevant EU draft legislation in order to carry out a subsidiary analysis, with the cooperation of the relevant committees and Members of the Regional Assembly.
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
There is currently no cooperation, but a memorandum of understanding with the Executive is being drawn up to establish rules for cooperation between the two bodies and their respective departments. In the absence of specific regulations, Article 191 of the internal regulations of the Regional Assembly applies, which sets down a requirement for the President of the Region to inform the Regional Assembly of any breaches of the subsidiarity principle (see
here (IT)).
Cooperation/coordination at the central level
The mechanism for forwarding EU legislative proposals is laid down at the central 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 Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and 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 Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and 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 Autonomous Provinces with a detailed schedule of the work of the parliamentary committees involved in the procedure.
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 here (IT).
Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
There is no ongoing coordination mechanism, but there are some contacts with EU institutions, including through meetings with Members of the European Parliament. Moreover, the Regional Assembly participates in CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies).