Italy Extends Emergency Powers for 34 Months, Bypassing Parliament

Italy chains emergencies, reaching 34 months without Parliament

How long can a government rule by decree before it becomes something else? Italy has just ended the pandemic emergency and immediately approved a new one to host Ukrainian refugees. The measure was passed on Monday, the same day much of Europe competed to send the most military aid to Kyiv. The text, tucked into a broader package, includes transferring military equipment to Ukrainian authorities. In other words: the humanitarian emergency serves as a cover for sending weapons.

The constitutional detail

The Italian Constitution sets a maximum of two years for an emergency state. With this extension, the country accumulates 34 months of rule by decree, according to a calculation circulating in the debate. This figure is not a technicality: each month of emergency is a month where the Executive legislates without passing through Parliament. Some call it agile management. Others call it something else. The full calculation, with the chain of extensions from the start of the pandemic, yields a figure that surprises those who haven't trinc the fine print.

Why declare the emergency now?

The calendar is no coincidence. The pandemic emergency was expiring, and the new one is approved in the same move. The official justification is hosting Ukrainian refugees, but Italy is two countries away from Ukraine. The logistics do not match the urgency. What does match is the timing with European governments closing their military aid packages. The key part of the decree, tucked among other measures, is the transfer of military equipment. Approving this via decree under an emergency umbrella saves the parliamentary debate that sending weapons would normally require.

The precedent no one wants to repeat

The Italian sequence is read with discomfort in Spain. First Italy, then us, is the pattern repeated in spring 2020. The looming question is whether emergency states have become an ordinary government tool, not an exception. An emergency state can easily degenerate into an exception state, and the legislative implications of that leap are significant. The suspicion that the emergency is extended because it is convenient, not because it is needed, is hard to refute when the neighboring country chains 34 months.

The military package traveling in the same decree

The transfer of military means and equipment to Ukraine was approved on Monday, when several European governments competed to contribute the most arms. Putting this in an emergency decree for humanitarian hosting is a way to sidestep scrutiny. There is no parliamentary debate, no roll-call vote, no trace of who approved what. The emergency acts as a carpet under which the uncomfortable is swept away.

What remains to be seen

The Italian emergency state has an expiration date, but recent history shows that extensions arrive on their own. The question is not when it ends, but what will have been legislated by decree when it does. With these precedents, the temptation to chain emergencies is evident. And the democratic cost of each link, difficult to quantify until there is no turning back.