Lo spoils system dei segretari comunali nella recente giurisprudenza costituzionale tra fiduciarietà e apicalità

Abstract

The sentence no. 33 of 2019 offered the Constitutional Court the opportunity to return to dealing with the delicate matter of the spoils system, this time with regard to the position of city secretaries.

The decision stems from the question of legitimacy raised by the ordinary Court of Brescia in relation to the provisions contained in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of article 99 of the legislative decree 18 August 2000, n. 267 (Consolidated text of the laws on the organization of Local Authorities). Such forecasts, in the reasoning of the referring court, would in fact appear contrary to art. 97 of the Constitution, in the parts where they provide that the mayor appoints the municipal secretary, that the appointment has a duration corresponding to that of the mandate of the mayor, with automatic termination of the office at the end of the mandate of the latter, that the appointment is prepared no earlier than sixty days and no more than one hundred and twenty days from the date of installation of the mayor, after which the secretary is confirmed