La partecipazione all’elaborazione e all’attuazione del PNRR, tra democrazia partecipativa e sussidiarietà orizzontale

Art. 18, par. 4, q) of the Regulation (EU) 2021/241, establishing the so-called Recovery and Resilience Facility, invites Member States to provide, for the preparation and for the implementation of the recovery and resilience plan, a consultation process of social partners, civil society organisations, youth organisations and other relevant stakeholders. This paper intends to evaluate whether and how Italy assured that process, analysing the participation of social and civil partners in the development and implementation of the Italian RRP. The paper then examines the participation in the context of the Italian RRP in relation to the participatory principle (art. 3, second paragraph of the Italian Constitution) and horizontal subsidiarity (art. 118, fourth paragraph of the Italian Constitution). Finally, the paper reflects on the ability of the participatory tools provided to ensure effectiveness of the democratic principle in this new public planning process.