O wpływie integracji europejskiej na proces ponownej centralizacji włoskiej administracji samorządów lokalnych

Abstract

This article examines how European integration has impacted the Italian Public Administration. The author points out that there are some striking similarities between the administrative unification of the country in 1865 and current administrative consolidation triggered by the European integration process. Under the influence of European policies there has been a clear transformation of the Italian regional and local self-government. The Constitution of the Italian Republic, approved in 1947, guarantees both local self-government and the subsidiarity principle and for a long time European integration has long been conducive to the implementation of these principles. This process was discontinued, however, after the adoption of a new fiscal compact in 2011, which forced Italy to introduce a number of structural reforms. The European Central Bank especially put pressure on the Italian authorities to abolish one level of local self-government, i.e., provinces, which has negatively affected the overall condition of the Sub-national governments.