On 13 May 2026, the Italian Senate held the second reading of the constitutional bill (Atto Senato n. 1670-B) reforming South Tyrol’s Autonomy Statute, followed by the vote. 129 senators voted in favour, with 48 abstentions and no contrary votes. This means that the bill was approved by an absolute majority of senators, as required by article 138 of the Italian Constitution (see article 103 of the Autonomy Statute). Following the adoption by the Chamber of Deputies in second reading on 21 January 2026 (Atto Camera: 2473-B), the adoption of the text by the senate in second reading marks the final parliamentary stage of the legislative process.
The reform process had been prompted primarily by an increasingly restrictive jurisprudence of the Italian Constitutional Court against the autonomous province’s legislative powers during the last 30 years. The 2026 reform act aims, among other aspects, at clarifying the distribution of powers and preventing competence disputes between the State and the Province. The main changes to the 1972 Autonomy statute are explained in our Policy Brief “Autonomy Reform: The draft Constitutional Law”, including an overview table comparing the current provisions and amendments. The reform text is the result of a negotiation process between South Tyrol and the State government and had been favourably received by the Austrian government, in its role as protecting power under the 1946 Paris Agreement.
Once the President of the Republic has promulgated the law, it will be published in the Official Gazette and enters into force 15 days after publication.