Un referendum consultivo con effetti vincolanti? A margine della l.r. 26/2022 sulle variazioni territoriali dei Comuni in Piemonte.

The Piedmont Region recently enacted a new statute entrusting local populations with more power when deciding on whether to approve a boundary change in local referenda. In particular, the new regional law stipulates that if the majority of the local population votes against a change this shall prevent the territorial reform to be rushed through the regional legislature. Yet, pursuant to Article 133, para 2 of the Italian Constitution, consultative referenda at the local level cannot have any binding character, but should rather be attached the value of simple opinions from which regional legislatures are free to depart by means of an adequate explanation within the legislative process. This paper argues that a constraint on the regional legislature as posed by a given outcome of a local referendum should therefore be regarded as unconstitutional.