UDK 34 Право. Юридические науки
BBK 67 Право. Юридические науки
This article examines issues related to the foundations of the constitutional order of the Italian Republic. The Constitution, being the fundamental law of any state, establishes the fundamental foundations of the economic, social, legal and political system. The author considers some features of the consolidation of the basic constitutional provisions of the Italian constitution.
Italian Republic, constitution, Basic Law, referendum
The history of constitutional institutions in Italy has more than a century and a half. During this period, the country went through a regime of constitutional monarchy, a totalitarian fascist dictatorship, in 1946 a referendum was held, as a result of which the monarchical form of government was rejected, and then one of the most democratic constitutions of post-war Europe was adopted in Italy.
Modern Italy is distinguished by the stability of constitutional institutions. The Italian state has had only two constitutions throughout its history: the Albertine Statute and the current Constitution of 1947. The Albertine Statute, named after King Charles Albert, was adopted in March 1848 in the Kingdom of Sardinia. And after the complete unification of Italy in 1970, the statute began to be used as the Constitution of the whole country. The Albertine status remained in force for almost a hundred years, since it was quite flexible and established only the most general forms, thereby allowing legislators to act independently in a fairly wide area. In addition, all amendments to which the Constitution was subject were introduced by constitutional laws, for the adoption of which a simple majority of votes was sufficient. Thanks to this, the Albertine Constitution was also valid during the fascist dictatorship. The change of the Constitution associated with the fall of the regime of Benito Mussolini was caused by the need to consolidate the change in the form of government and the desire to constitutionally confirm the permanence of the republic and democratic institutions, as well as to prevent the possibility of the restoration of fascism. The new Constitution of Italy was adopted on December 22, 1947 at a meeting of the Constituent Assembly, on December 27 it was promulgated by the interim head of state I. Banomi and entered into force on January 1, 1948. The Constitution consists of basic principles, two main parts “Rights and duties of citizens” and “Organization of the Republic”, 18 transitional and final provisions. There are 139 articles in total. The relationship of the state with the Catholic Church is given special importance in the Italian Constitution. This is primarily due to Catholic traditions and the special location of the Vatican, which is the religious center of the Catholic Church, in Italy. However, the Italian Constitution is secular in nature, thereby separating church from state and adheres to the principle of equality of religions. In terms of the method of change, the Italian Constitution is quite rigid, since both houses of parliament discuss a draft law that changes the Constitution twice with an interval of at least three months. After the first vote, amendments must be approved by a majority vote of the total number of members of each of the chambers, and in the second, an absolute majority is required. If approved by a two-thirds majority, the constitutional draft law is not submitted to a referendum, but is submitted to the President of the Republic for promulgation and further official publication. In the event that in the second vote the draft law did not get the required number of votes, but was approved by a majority of votes from the total number of members of each of the chambers, within three months after the second vote, the parliamentary minority (one-fifth of the members of each of the chambers of parliament), or voters ( five hundred thousand citizens), or representative bodies of territorial entities (five regional councils) have the right to demand a referendum on the approval of the amendments. Thus, a law will be considered approved in a referendum if a majority of the votes cast in the vote is cast in favor of it.
During the existence of the Italian Constitution, quite a few amendments were made to it. For example, in 1991, changes were made affecting the issues of direct elections of chairmen of regional juntas, financing of political parties, and the powers of regional bodies. And the amendments of 2000 changed the procedure for participation in the elections of Italian citizens who are abroad. In 2016, the political system of Italy could have undergone dramatic changes. A bill to amend the Italian Constitution was submitted to a referendum, as a result of which the procedure for the formation of the Senate is quite changed, namely: its size is reduced, functions and powers are reduced, and funding is reduced. It was proposed to transform the “Senate of the Republic” into the “Senate of the Regions”, taking as a basis the formation of regional councilors and mayors, thereby reducing the number from 315 to 100 people. Thus, the Senate would consist of 21 mayors, 74 regional councilors and 5 senators appointed by the head of state for a term of 5 years. As a result of the reform, the Senate would have legislative power only on reforms and amendments to the Constitution, and on other issues its competence would consist only in making recommendations to the Chamber of Deputies of Italy. On December 4, 2016, a very high voter turnout was recorded. In all regions of Italy, more than 50% of voters took part in the voting, however, according to the results of the vote, the majority of voters (59.12%) opposed the introduction of 5 changes to the Constitution, thereby leaving the political system of Italy untouched. After analyzing the above, we can conclude that the constitutional institutions in Italy are stable. Recognizing the important role of the Catholic Church in the life of society, the Constitution establishes the secular nature of the state, while adhering to the principle of equality of religions and separating the church from public affairs. In addition, the Constitution secured a wide range of rights and freedoms, attaching great importance to social issues, established a parliamentary republic as a form of government, and a decentralized unitary state with broad regional autonomy as a form of government. Thus, the current Italian Constitution is a carefully and detailed political and legal document, in which the preamble is not separately issued, and the legal principles and guidelines are directly reflected in the text of the Constitution itself.
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