Regulation and Tariffs in the Transport System: the case of Lombardy

Of the various sectors subject to regulation, the road and motorway network in particular has been subject in recent years to an intense regulatory and administrative decentralisation process, as a result of which frequent hypotheses of potential overlaps of governmental authority have arisen. The situation is therefore complex, and significant uncertainty remains even today. For example, on the matter of the power to determine the motorway tariffs, while some of the hypotheses are clearly of a regional nature, others remain firmly anchored to a prevalently centralist notion of relations between the state and the regions. This creates considerable problems in a sector whose development is also subject to incentives and monitoring at European Union level, not only because of the economic interests involved, but also and above all in terms of the need to contribute to a Europe-wide network with no boundaries or restrictions on traffic movements. The approach which has been taken by Lombardy Region over the last decade reflects the complexity to which we referred above, and should be examined due to the importance that it attributes to the achievement of consensus as the method that the regional, national and European institutions are expected to adopt in their development policies.