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Autonomy Statute

Even before the end of the Second World War and immediately afterwards, South Tyrolese representatives and the provisional government of Austria began working to see that at the coming peace negotiations South Tyrol would be returned to Austria. The Great Powers of the victorious allies had, however, already rejected such claims in the autumn of 1945 and, despite further massive attempts by the South Tyrolese and Austria (in South Tyrol 163,777 signatures were collected calling for a plebiscite, and in Innsbruck a huge demonstration was held on 5 May 1946), a final negative decision was taken at the end of April 1946. The only way left open now was for Austria and Italy to negotiate directly so that South Tyrol should obtain some form of self-government. To that effect a basic agreement was reached within the framework of the peace negotiations in Paris: on 5 September 1946 the "Paris Agreement" was signed by the Italian Prime Minister Degasperi and de Austrian Foreign Minister Gruber, and annexed to the peace treaty with Italy, so that the South Tyrol Question was thereby given international standing.

This agreement provided, amongst other things, for Italy to give the Province of South Tyrol an autonomous legislative and executive power. Italy believed it could fulfil this obligation with the issue of an Autonomous Statute, adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 31 January 1948. Despite string opposition from the South Tyrolese representatives, the autonomy which in the Paris Agreement had been foreseen for South Tyrol alone was extended in the 1948 Autonomy Statute to the Trentino, and the "Region Trentino - Tiroler Etschland" was created. This Region, with its overwhelming Italian majority was provided with far greater powers than the Province of Bozen. Even the few autonomous powers that existed scarcely had any effect (partly because the Executive Measures for the Statute were not issued) so that the impatience and disappointment of the South Tyrolese continued to grow: in 1957 the first bombings occurred; on 15 November 1957 a big protest demonstration took place at Schloss Sigmundskron. In 1959 the Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP) left the Regional Government and in September 1959 the South Tyrol Question was raised for the first time in the United Nations in New York by the then Austrian Foreign Minister Dr. Bruno Kreisky. Further efforts by the SVP and Austria had no success: in 1961 came more bombing attacks (37 separate incidents in the night of 11 June alone) followed by new negotiations with Rome (within the Commission of Nineteen, which was set up on 1 September) which eventually reached a successful conclusion. Little by little a whole package of measures to put the self-government into effect was agreed, and this was approved by a narrow majority of the South Tyrolese People's Party at its Congress on 23 November 1969 and thereafter by the Italian and Austrian governments.

The Package consisted of 137 measures: 97 of them required implementation through amendment of the 1948 Autonomy Statute by a constitutional law, eight through executive measures to the above-mentioned Statute, 15 through ordinary state laws, nine through administrative decrees and the rest through administrative regulations. The most important part of the Package was the amendment of the former statute through approval of a new statute which came about with the adoption of constitutional law n. 1 of 10 November 1971 (in effect on 20 January 1972), followed by the publication of an unified text in 1972 (D.P.R. n. 670 of 31 August 1972); this unified text contained the measures still in force of the former statute as well as those of the new statute. After 20 years intense negotiations all the important measures contained in the Package were implemented. Notification of the implementation was transmitted by the Italian government to Vienna on 22 April 1992, on the basis of which the Austrian Federal government officially declared before the United Nations on 11 June 1992 that the conflict had been settled.

The second Autonomy Statute contained 115 articles, divided into 12 chapters (establishment of the Region and the Provinces of Trento and Bozen, powers of the Region and Provinces, approval of laws, local public bodies, public property, finance, establishment of posts in state offices in the Province of Bozen, legal bodies, the role of the Constitutional Court, the use of the German and Ladin languages, etc.). With this statute the powers of the Region and the Provinces were redefined, with the powers of the two Provinces substantially increased in comparison with the past. The provisions of the autonomy apply generally to both Provinces in the same way, but South Tyrol has in addition special provisions regarding the use of the mother tongue, schools, culture, bilingualism, and ethnic proportions in employment, etc. On the basis of the Paris Agreement, the South Tyrol Autonomy Statute should be ensure the maintenance and linguistic and cultural development of the German and Ladin linguistic groups within the framework of the Italian state; but at the same time the autonomy is a territorial one, i.e. the benefits of these enlarged powers of self-government apply to members of all three linguistic groups in South Tyrol.

The second Autonomy Statute provides the Province of South Tyrol (and the Province of Trento) with far-reaching independence vis-à-vis the Region and the State. The most important powers of the Province of Bozen - South Tyrol are: place naming, protection of objects of artistic and ethnic value, local uses and customs, planning and building, protection of the countryside, common rights (for pasturage and timber), the regulation of small holdings, crafts and handicrafts, public housing, fairs and markets, prevention of disasters, mining, hunting and fishing, alpine pastures and the protection of fauna and flora, public works, transport, tourism and the hotel trade, agriculture and forestry, expropriations, employment exchanges, public welfare, nursery schools, school buildings and school welfare, vocational training; restricted powers apply to teaching in primary and secondary schools, trade and commerce, hygiene and health, sport and leisure, etc. On the other hand, the Region has just modest powers, amongst them being the regulation of regional offices, municipal boundaries, land registers and land registry offices, fire services, regulation of health bodies and Chambers of Commerce.

The Provincial Government of South Tyrol has started to go a way, which has been accepted by the government in Rome under the definition of "dynamic autonomy". The ambition of a new extension of the autonomy and of new competencies for the administrative structures the South Tyrolese government has been very successful. During the last five years (1993-1995) the autonomy could have been extended with the following competencies: own salary contracts and extension of the programmatic competencies in school sector; taking over of the employment offices and the office of motorization; taking over of the state roads; transition of the state real estate; reduction of the state control functions (court of account); extension of the administrative jurisdiction; new prospects in the energy sector; recognition of competencies in the EU- sector (Europe-Office); competence on university level with the following foundation of the Free University Bozen; commitment to the rights of the Ladins (constitutional law). This achievement has increased the self assurance of the South Tyrolese population. The Provincial Government of South Tyrol has shown, that the autonomy is not a static thing, but it is something capable of development.

In 2001, a series of very important reforms on constitutional level has been effected. The constitutional law n° 2 of 31st January 2001, in force since 16th February 2001, enhanced the status of the two provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino and reorganised the region. Nearly 2/3 of the legal requirements of the South Tyrolese Autonomy Statute have been rewritten This reform of the Autonomy Statute led to the third Autonomy Statute and it is the most important and most extensive amendment since the passing of the second Autonomy Statute in 1972.
The reform of the Autonomy Statute by the constitutional law n°2/2001 includes following amendments:

The constitutional law n°3 of 18th October 2001, in force since 9th November 2001includes a reorganisation of the relations between State, regions, provinces and municipalities and further reforms for South Tyrol:

In order to ensure all these conquests it will be necessary to aim at a further amendment of the Autonomy Statute.