Abstract

The reform of Italy's bicameral system has been a matter of discussion ever since the approval of the Constitution. However, in recent times the idea has been abandoned of transforming the Senate into a Chamber of territorial representation, which seemed to be the point of arrival of a lengthy political and doctrinal debate; an alternative solution has been proposed, providing that a more nimble institution, the State-Regions Conference, become the seat of representation of local and territorial interests. The author observes that this thesis produces two important consequences: first, the weakening of the parliamentary institution, which at this moment in history must, if anything, be infused with new value and vigour; the second regards the very role of territorial representation, which in a second Chamber of Parliament would be assigned an important central role, closely tied to political representation, while within the framework of the State-Regions Conference it would instead risk playing only a marginal role, tied to a generic representation of the interests. As for territorial representation, its longstanding tie with political representation and with Parliament is recalled, as well as the fact that this relation is less incisive, but in any case also present as regards the lower chambers, traditionally more tied to representation of a demographic type.