<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Civic Network of South Tyrol

Welcome to South Tyrol

Provincial Government

The Provincial Government is the executive body of the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol. It implements the laws passed by the Provincial Assembly and administers the Province. The Provincial Government consists of the President, one Vice-President for the German-speaking group and one for the Italian-speaking group, as well as the Assessors. The numbers in the government may change according to need, for example, when the government was being formed for the current legislative period (1988-1993), they were reduced from the previous fourteen (including the President) to eleven. The government is chosen by the Provincial Assembly in secret ballot from amongst its members. The ethnic proportions in the composition of the government must reflect that one of the Assembly. Thanks to the constitutional law n°3/2001, come into force on 16 February 2001, South Tyrol has free choice about the government form (for example direct election of the President of the Provincial Government). Furthermore, a Ladin can become member of the Provincial Government by by-election, independently of the proportional principle).

The Provincial Government implements laws passed by the Provincial Assembly, is the highest authority as regards the provincial administration, gives instructions on its own responsibility to subordinate provincial authorities, participates in the legislative process, i.e., can submit bills to the Provincial Assembly, defends the rights of the Province vis-à-vis the state and the national government, and controls the municipalities and public bodies of the Province.

The President is the representative of the Province. He decides provincial policy and is responsible for it, assigns to the assessors their departments, convokes the government and chairs its meetings, publishes provincial laws, and participates in meetings of the Italian Government if questions concerning South Tyrol are on its agenda.

The individual Assessors represent and administer the departments assigned to them by the President, and are individually responsible for them. The activities of the Assessors are co-ordinated by the President.

As a result of the negotiations following the Provincial elections of 22 November 1998 the Provincial Government for the twelfth legislative period was composed of the SVP (8 members), Popolari-Alto Adige Domani (1), Il Centro-UDA (1) and Progetto Centrosinistra/Mitte-Links-Projekt (1). The political objectives for this legislative period were decided in a coalition agreement which was signed on 27 January 1999. The new Provincial Government was elected by the Provincial Assembly at its sitting on 4 February 1999.
Dr. Luis Durnwalder was elected as President. Elected as Vice-President were Dr. Otto Saurer (SVP) and Dr. Michele Di Puppo (Popolari-Alto Adige Domani). Elected as Assessors were Hans Berger, Dr. Werner Frick, Dr. Bruno Hosp, Dr. Sabina Kasslatter-Mur, Dr. Florian Mussner, Dr. Michl Laimer of the SVP, Dr. Luigi Cigolla of Il Centro-UDA and Luisa Gnecchi of Progetto Centrosinistra/Mitte-Links-Projekt.
President Durnwalder assigned departmental responsibilities as follows:
Saurer, the departments Personnel, Health and Welfare; Di Puppo, the departments Industry, Transport, Finances and Budget; Berger, the departments Agriculture and Property; Frick, the departments Arts and Crafts, Trade and Tourism; Hosp, the departments Historic Monuments, German Culture; Kasslatter-Mur, the departments German and Ladin Schools and Vocational Training; Mussner, the department Construction; Laimer, the departments Nature and Environment, Planning, Water Management and Energy, Computer Science; Cigolla, the department Italian Culture and Housing; Gnecchi, the department Labour, Italian Schools and Vocational Training. President Durnwalder retained the following for himself: in addition to the Presidency, Central Services, European Affairs, the Provincial Institute of Statistics and the Legal Services of the Province, the departments of Local Bodies, Fire Services and Civil Defence, Forestry, Agricultural and Forestry Research.

The Provincial Administration: the Provincial Government carries out its various functions, the bounds of which are laid down by laws and regulations, and its political objectives through an extensive administrative structure, which is divided into a General Secretariat and 40 departments, in turn sub-divided into a total of 190 directorates. Altogether about 9,212 persons are at present employed in the service of the Provincial administration, of which only a certain proportion are its own administrative staff. In this total are included, amongst others, school administrators (2,591 persons) and nursery school staff (2,201). Posts must be allotted on the basis of ethnic proportions according to the most recent census (or, until 1988, according to the ethnic composition of the Provincial Assembly). The Provincial employees have to ensure that the laws passed by the people through their representatives are correctly and competently applied. The highest ranking official of the Provincial administration is the Secretary-General who is directly responsible to the President and at the same time directs the Secretariat of the Provincial Government. According to Provincial Law n. 10 of 23 April 1992 it is the departmental directors which are the links between the political and the administrative spheres. Each Assessor has one departmental director and the President has two. The administration itself is divided 40 departments, and the number of directorates (which are the operational offices of the department) have been limited in the aforementioned Provincial Law to 190.
In addition, there are a number of special organisations, institutes and provincial bodies which have been entrusted with specific functions by provincial laws and which are mostly financed by the Province.