MAURIZIO COTTA - LUCA VERZICHELLI IL SISTEMA POLITICO ITALIANO CHAPTER 5 The cabinet. From weak and unstable to stronger and long-lasting governments

Topics of this chapter The institutional design The actual working of the Italian government The recent changes

The Head of the State Selection of the chief executive Acceptance of the government termination Parliament dissolution Control on the legislative process Appointment of judiciary roles

The cabinet and the parliament Explicit confidence vote for the whole government Ambiguous but limited role of the chief executive Considerable ministerial autonomy Limited governmental power to set the parliamentary agenda No governmental predominance in the legislative process Governmental autonomous legislative power

The government: general characteristics During the First Republic  Coalition cabinets always including the DC  Extremely limited alternance  Short-lived cabinets  Weak leadership by the chief executive During the Second Republic  Complete and recurrent alternation  Growing power of the chief executive  Long-lasting cabinets

The government formation During the First Republic  Parliamentary bargaining after the election  Nomination of the prospective chief executive by the Head of the State  Critical decisions by the party leaders During the Second Republic  Unusual importance assumed by the Head of the State in , then a formal role, a renewed critical role since 2011  Pre-electoral coalitions  Growing role of the chief executive

The political arrangement of the government During the First Republic  Majority coalitions  One-party or minority governments supported in the parliament by minor partners  One-party or minority governments with minor partners abstention  Caretaker governments During the Second Republic  Alternating leftist and rightist coalitions  Highly fractionalized coalitions  All parties involved in government majorities

The government ending During the First Republic  Earlier termination without no confidence parliamentary vote  Frequent crises caused by intra-party disagreements During the Second Republic  Some cases of formal no confidence  Lack of agreement on the government demise

The organization of the government Upper level  Prime minister  Ministers Lower level  Junior ministers  Under-secretaries

The growth of the government,

The selection of ministers,

The direction of the government during the First Republic A weak leadership obviated by:  Summit (vertici di maggioranza) involving the Prime Minister and the party leaders supporting the government  Inter-ministerial committees to coordinate different ministers

The direction of the government during the Second Republic Since the Eighties a strengthening leadership pursued through:  Cabinet council (Consiglio di gabinetto)  A mounting staff and a dedicated under-secretary established by 400/88 bill  Creation of a centralized Minister of the Economy  Electoral selection of the Prime Minister

The government in parliament During the First Republic  Rejected governmental bills  Substantive parliamentary amendments During the Second Republic  Adapted parliamentary rules  Decree laws (with ex post parliamentary control)  Delegated legislation (with ex ante parliamentary control)  Vote of confidence  Merger of parliamentary amendments (maxiemendamenti)  Delegification

The government and the bureaucracy Significant reforms have been implemented, but:  The organization and the direction of the government is still ineffective  Agencies have inadequately improved the ministers’ working  Matching between ministers and parliamentary committees is persistently scarce  Coordination among ministers is still lacking

So what? Italian governments have modified their structure and working through de facto and incremental changes Legislative reforms have been quite limited A constitutional reform is (plausibly) still needed