Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO / REGION – An unprecedented legal and political-institutional action to defend Sicily’s financial autonomy and essential services for its citizens. This morning at the Sicilian Regional Assembly (ARS) in Palermo, the complex legal battle led by ANCI Sicilia and 29 councils on the island was outlined, culminating in two appeals lodged with the regional administrative court (TAR) of Lazio against the allocation criteria for the Municipal Solidarity Fund (FSC).
At the meeting with journalists, the president of the association of Sicilian councils, Paolo Amenta, and the general secretary, Mario Emanuele Alvano, described the initiative as “the most important autonomist battle of the last twenty years”, aimed at dismantling the economic treatment disparities between Sicily and the ordinary-statute regions.
The short circuit of “historic spending” and the gap with the rest of Italy
At the heart of the dispute before the administrative judges is the unfairness of the state’s parameters: while in ordinary-statute regions resources are distributed on the basis of standard needs (the actual costs to guarantee services) and fiscal capacity, in Sicily allocation continues to be calculated on the so-called “historic spending”. A perverse mechanism that rewards those who in the past spent more and penalises local authorities that had less budget available.
According to the accounting data presented by ANCI Sicilia, the economic imbalance is clear:
- Per-capita gap: in 2026 each Sicilian citizen will on average receive €137 from the Municipal Solidarity Fund, compared with €179 for residents in ordinary-statute southern councils.
- Financial losses: for 2026 the estimated shortfall for the island is close to €200 million, a figure set to rise to €300 million a year by 2030.
A system that violates the constitutional principles of equality and equalisation and ignores the principle of insularity enshrined in the Constitution.
Amenta and Alvano: “Roads, school buses and canteens at risk. Now it is up to the judges”
The decision to take legal action – with the support of constitutional lawyers Corrado Caruso and Piermassimo Chirulli – comes after negotiations stalled at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), whose own forecasts had estimated an annual top-up of at least €150 million for Sicilian councils.
“The criteria by which the state distributes resources are not cold budget numbers, but determine whether potholes, pavements and roads can be repaired or whether children can use school buses or eat in school canteens. Changing the Fund’s criteria would bring immediate improvements to school services, social services, roads, lighting, Municipal Police and public green spaces”, Amenta and Alvano reiterated.
The 29 Sicilian councils co-claimants at the TAR
Supporting the legal action led by ANCI Sicilia is a team of 29 councils representing all the island’s provinces:
| Province | Co-claimant councils |
| Agrigento | Grotte, Santo Stefano Quisquina |
| Caltanissetta | Caltanissetta |
| Catania | Biancavilla, Caltagirone, Misterbianco, Piedimonte Etneo, Valverde |
| Enna | Calascibetta |
| Messina | Gioiosa Marea, Piraino, San Filippo del Mela, Santa Teresa di Riva, Santo Stefano di Camastra, Tusa |
| Palermo | Balestrate, Contessa Entellina, Isola delle Femmine, Lercara Friddi, Monreale, Partinico, Piana degli Albanesi, Valledolmo |
| Ragusa | Santa Croce Camerina, Vittoria |
| Syracuse | Canicattini Bagni, Sortino |
| Trapani | Mazara del Vallo, Trapani |
