The webinar "The administrative capacity of the Unions of Municipalities" was held on 22 April to present the results of a comparative analysis, carried out as part of the ITALIAE Project, which allows the Unions to reflect on their degree of transparency and performance with respect to shared functions, with the aim of being able to perform them better, in the general interest of their territories.
The meeting inaugurates the Innovation Atelier of the ITALIAE Project, dedicated to "Administrative capacity and accountability", and constitutes the premise, for the Unions themselves, of concrete operational support, which will allow them to improve their general performance and, in particular, the degree of transparency and the provision of services to citizens.
The works were opened by Giovanni Vetritto, Director General of the Department for Regional Affairs and Autonomies of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, who framed the theme within the aims of the Project, focusing attention on the importance of the theme of accountability of the Unions to legitimize the aggregation process.
The analysis was conducted by Paola Caporossi, expert of the ITALIAE Project and coordinator of the Atelier, who spoke of measuring administrative capacity as a premise for its strengthening, with the aim not of making rankings and assigning votes to Unions and Municipalities that compose them, but to recognize the merit of having undertaken the courageous path of sharing good practices. Daniele Dotto, Head of the Governance and Public Administration Unit – European Commission – General Directorate for Support for Structural Reforms and Leonardo Marras - Councilor for the Economy, Productive Activities, Credit Policies and Tourism of the Tuscany Region took part.
Dr. Dotto drew attention to the European Union's request for transparency in account management and how important the use of European funds is, focusing on the importance of quality Public Administration to manage today's challenges and the transitions we are facing today, the green and digital one, and on how important transparency indicators are as an element of management and integration of quality administration in a global context.
Dr. Marras, bringing the testimony of the Tuscany Region, explained that the quality of the public administration also passes through its organizational capacity which today has to deal with the size, with the need for specialization of a public offer and with the need for accountability and community participation and involvement. The role of the Regions is not only that of organizing and promoting aggregative forms of verification and monitoring, but also that of a subsidiary contribution in the collaboration to respond to needs that have to do with the response of a concrete administrative capacity. It is important to have effective tools to facilitate aggregation processes and improve one's administrative performance together with accountability.
Ample space was then given to the experiences of the territories. In this regard, the Unione dei Comuni Terre di Leuca, the Unione del Fossanese and the Unione Valdera intervened with their own testimony, emphasizing how an improvement of the administrative function is essential to govern the environment as a whole, fight the instability and encourage aggregation processes.
