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24 - What is Missing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2020

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Summary

If we wanted fundamental law to be fully consistent with the horizontal society, then other points would need to be modified. More than in their substance (which, anyway, reveals some inconsistencies as we have seen with the treatment of churches), they seem to need updating in some formal aspects, namely the procedures which pertain to the functioning of the institutional organisation.

We have already mentioned that the horizontal way of organising society is particularly complex. A careful balancing of all the different circumstances of people is needed, if the rights of everyone and the equality of each individual before the law are to be guaranteed. The complexity of the system, however, does not mean that the administrative apparatus has to be massively complex. Moreover, institutions have to be as transparent as possible if the choices of citizens and control of those are to be effective.

In view of full achievement of the horizontal society, a constitutional law which immediately granted citizenship to all people born in Italy, and the right to vote to foreigners who have fixed their residence in Italy, would lead to a more extensive recognition of the fundamental rights of everybody. Measures such as the reduction in the number of members of Parliament (now 630 in the lower house and 315, plus some lifelong members, in the Senate) and the abolition of provinces (which, with the Regions functioning properly, would hardly find any specific sphere of competence) would streamline the institutional apparatus, thus reducing the burden citizens have to bear to support it.

Abandoning the principle of a symmetrical bicameral mechanism – whereby the same bill has to be passed by both chambers in order to become a law – could result in greater efficiency. Assigning more responsibility to political parties in terms of financing and transparency would make it easier for citizens to obtain important information for exercising their voting rights more consciously.

A reflection on the changing times is also essential. Did the 60 years which have elapsed since the Constitution entered into force influence its efficacy in regard to the actual protection of the personal rights of all, considering the new organisations, visions, and subjects that have emerged on the social scene?

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On Rules , pp. 114 - 116
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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