Riassunto esame Fundamental rights, Prof. Cossiri Angela Giuseppina, libro consigliato The Constitution of Italy. A Contextual Analysis, Lupo Cartabia

Fundamental rights

The sources of law

Abrogative referendum - Art. 75 IC

A popular referendum shall be held to abrogate, totally or partially, a law or a measure having the force of law, when requested by five hundred thousand voters or five regional councils.

Not tax, budget, amnesty, and pardon laws, or referendums are admissible in the case of laws authorizing the ratification of international treaties. All citizens eligible to vote for the Chamber of Deputies have the right to participate in referendums.

The proposal subjected to a referendum is approved if the majority of those with voting rights have participated in the vote and a majority of votes validly cast has been reached. The procedures for conducting a referendum shall be established by law.

Referendum are those instruments that establish to empower people to decide on. They are typical of direct democracies.

Specific matters

A law is the parliamentary statute, a legislative act, while measures are decree law and legislative decrees, belonging to the normative powers of the Government. These sources are placed on the same level of the hierarchy of norms. The abrogative referendum is aimed at repealing these kinds of norms, totally or partially.

500,000 of citizens or 5 regional councils have the power of initiative but not every kind of piece of legislation can be repealed according to the art. 75 IC. Indeed, it is not admissible on:

• International treaties
• Tax and budgetary legislations
• Pardons and amnesty statutes

The IC case law imposes further limits.

The proceeding

The abrogative referendum proceeding is very complex:

• The initiative - Central Office for the Referendum is formed within the Court of Cassation. The Court of Cassation is the highest ordinary judge in the Italian judicial system. It has only a specific task: to control the legality of the process which has brought the initiative before the court. From a formal point of view, they control the signatures of the voters supporting the initiative.
• The admissibility check (art. 75 + case law) is made by the constitutional court. It is one of the main functions of this court. It verifies whether the initiative falls on the sphere of those factors which are considered not admissible. The court tends to interpret extensively the limits provided by the constitution.

The constitution requires an absolute majority. If not reached, the referendum is not valid and there will not be any repeal of the legislation.

The is followed by a simple majority of those who voted. If the simple majority is reached, the provision of legislation is repealed, and a D.P.R. (President of the Republic) reporting the results is published in the