Wind energy and civic uses, the Region wins against the Government before the Constitutional Court. Partly because it was out of focus and partly because it was unfounded, the Council rejected the appeal presented by Palazzo Chigi against the Sardinian law of 23 October 2023 which contains "Provisions of an institutional, regulatory and financial nature on various matters". Among these, the modification of the legislation on land burdened by civic uses, with the provision of "Change of destination in the event of installation of renewable energy systems".
The legislation approved in Cagliari provides that «for the installation of renewable energy production plants it is mandatory to request
the opinion of the Municipality in which the identified areas are located, which expresses itself, with a resolution of the Municipal Council by a majority of two thirds of its members, within twenty days, after which it is disregarded".
According to the Government, the law «would regulate a simplified procedure for the change of destination of land encumbered by civic use in the case of installation of plants for the production of renewable energy» thus violating the Constitution «by invading the exclusive legislative competence of the State in matters of “protection of the environment, ecosystem and cultural heritage”».
According to the State Attorney's Office, current legislation includes lands burdened by civic uses among those unsuitable for the construction of plants for the production of renewable energy. This, it is underlined, is happening while awaiting the approval of the decree on suitable areas ( under discussion at the moment ).
But this is precisely the weak point of the reconstruction of the Government's lawyers, according to the judges of the Consulta, who accepted the arguments of the Region's Legal Office, led by Mattia Pani, put forward in opposition to those of the State counterparts.
The Supreme Court deemed the exception unfounded «since the same legislative decree of 2021», referred to by the Government, «does not in itself imply the absolute unsuitability of the areas burdened by civic uses for the installation of the systems, nor does it entail the prohibition to change its destination in accordance with the civic uses regime".
With the same sentence, still accepting the arguments of the Region's lawyers, the Court also declared unfounded the questions of constitutional legitimacy of the regional provisions which provide for the establishment and composition of an "inter-departmental technical table" for the reform of the entire matter of civic uses in Sardinia, "since this reform should be limited to the regulation of regional functions in the matter".
Finally, the questions of constitutional legitimacy of the regional provisions regarding the authorization to continue the operation of water dams falling within the competence of the Region were also declared unfounded, since these provisions do not allow for the regularization of landscape abuses.
Enrico Fresu