Differentiated fiscal federalism and inter-territorial solidarity: an interpretation of Italian differentiated autonomy through the lens of Spanish asymmetric regionalism

Abstract

This paper examines recent proposals for the implementation of differentiated regionalism in Italy at the level of the mechanisms of financing the additional powers that may be conferred on the Regions. This study is aided by a comparison with the financing system of the Autonomous Communities of the common regime established in Spain, on the grounds of the progressive deepening towards the principles of fiscal federalism, which, however, has not altered the unitary nature of the so-called regimen común. This occurred despite the asymmetry of competencies that characterize the autonómic model. Based on these observations, the paper shows how the bargained model of allocating resources to regions that accede to the differentiated autonomy, provided for by earlier bills and preserved in the more recent Calderoli bill, entails, given the ongoing state of non-implementation of the reform of regional fiscal federalism, the risk of a break with the constitutional paradigm outlined in Article 119, and in particular with the imperative duties of solidarity