Urbanities,
Vol. 4
·
No 2
·
November 2014
© 2014
Urbanities
42
In 2010, the Constitutional Court established that the Italian legislation can
legitimately opt for free market principles for water resource management (Judgment No
325). As a consequence, the Forum’s second national action was to request three referendums
aimed at the abrogation of the rules approved by Parliament in support of the privatization of
local public services, including water management.
8
Initially, this second action consisted in collecting the necessary signatures to initiate
the three referendums.
9
As in the case of the popular bill, this new initiative enjoyed strong
popular support. In a few months, the promoters collected 1,400,000 signatures, almost three
times the required amount.
10
The referendums addressed three questions. The first concerned
the repeal of the law that forced local governments to turn to the market for the provision of
all local public services; the second concerned the abolition of the specific rule on the choice
of water services management; the third was related to the method of calculating the water
service rates. In January 2011, the Constitutional Court, which rules on the eligibility of the
referendum questions, rejected the second question and allowed the other two. In particular,
the Constitutional Court approved the referendum for the repeal of the legislation on water
services with specific reference to the criterion of ‘adequate return on the invested capital’
(Judgement No 26/2011). The Court made it clear that this referendum aimed at separating
water management from the global logic of market profit.
The two referendums were held in June 2011. Citizens voted almost unanimously for
the repeal of the existing legislation on the privatization of common goods. In spite of such an
overwhelming result, two months later the Italian Parliament approved a law that strengthened
the privatization of water management; that is, precisely the kind of legislation that the
popular vote had asked to abolish (Decree No 138/2011).
At this point, the Forum started a determined legal fight in order to obtain the
acknowledgement of the unconstitutionality of the new law from the Constitutional Court. As
the legal appeal to the Constitutional Court concerning the new legislation could not be
brought directly by the Forum, six Italian Regions — Apulia, Latium, Emilia Romagna, the
Marches, Umbria and Sardinia — proceeded to do so claiming to have been discriminated in
their prerogatives by the new law on local public services approved by central government
and Italian parliament. In 2012, the Constitutional Court declared the new legislation
constitutionally illegitimate, finding it in clear conflict with the popular will expressed in the
referendum (Judgement No 199/2012).
Subsequently, the Forum started a campaign of ‘civil obedience’ and demanded that
the popular vote expressed in the referendums of June 2011 should be respected. This
campaign intended to make central government, parliament, regional governments,
municipalities, the corporations that managed the water services and all public and private
stakeholders respect the will of Italians and keep the management of water services public. In
8
The 1948 Italian Constitution contemplates abrogative referendums only.
9
A fourth referendum proposed by the Idv party (literally, Italy of values) was rejected by the
Constitutional Court.
10
According to art. 75 of the Italian Constitution, 500,000 signatures are required.
