The Democratic Party, which leads the national government in Rome, had criticized the referendums, saying the non-binding votes carried no legal weight, were not needed to trigger autonomy negotiations and were a costly waste of resources.
Such arguments played into the hands of the “yes” campaigners, who consider those put-downs to be part of the anti-democratic, centrist decision-making in Rome. Those sentiments have been echoed in the Catalan independence drive in Spain, in the U.S. election of Donald Trump as president and in Britain’s vote to leave the 28-nation European Union.
The victory raises the Northern League’s profile ahead of national elections next year. But it also has the power to create a wedge between the rich north and the poor south just as Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, who supports autonomy, has pushed for a more national profile for the once-northern party.
The referendum campaign drove hard on the theme that too much northern tax revenues were going to the less-efficient southern regions.
The Northern League was founded with the goal of secession for the wealthier, more productive northern regions, but it gave that up when it joined the national government under then-Premier Silvio Berlusconi in the 1990s. During that period, it pushed for federalism, which lost steam during Italy’s long economic crisis. Autonomy has become the new expression of the party’s identity politics.
Also supporting the referendums were the populist 5-Star Party and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
The referendum victory is just the first step as the regions seek greater autonomy. Some of the policy issues they are seeking can be won with a new law. But many of the more emotional issues — including greater fiscal control, immigration and security issues — would requiring difficult-to-achieve constitutional changes.
“I don’t think this is possible,” said Paolo Natale, a political scientist at Milan’s state university. “It will be difficult for the state to accept that they take over education and security policy. The management of immigration policy has to be done at a national level.”
The Italian constitution already grants varying levels of autonomy to five regions in recognition of their special status: the largely German-speaking Trentino-Alto Adige, French-speaking Aosta, the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region for its position on the border with then-Yugoslavia as a Cold War hedge.
