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EACEA National Policies Platform
Italy

Italy

2. Voluntary Activities

2.10 Current debates and reforms

Last update: 28 March 2024

Forthcoming policy developments

On 16th of September 2020, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies issued the implementing decree of the single national register of the Third Sector.

The single national register of the third sector (Runts) serves to publicize the existence of a third sector body (Ets) and some fundamental data regarding its structure and activity. It therefore has a function of transparency - also with regard to the application of tax legislation - and of legal certainty with regard to third parties who enter into relations with the ETS themselves.

Registration in the non-mandatory Runts gives the right to access the facilities provided for the third sector and gives the possibility to enter into agreements with public administrations for the carrying out of activities or social services of general interest in favour of third parties. With Runts, a process of redefinition and repositioning of third sector entities is launched.

Ongoing debates

In 2022 the Youth Policies Department started two new initiatives related with the Universal Civil Service, one with the call for the “digital” civil service, aiming at the involvement of around one thousand young people all over Italy, and the call related with the “environmental” civil service. This one aiming at the preparation of young people for the challenges connected with the green revolution and the ecological transition, in order to reach the objectives of the UN Agenda for 2030, valuing the institution of the Universal Civil Service, as regulated by the legislative decree n. 40/2017, as a tool for promoting the fundamental values of the Republic.

With the environmental civil service, a series of “green” projects will be proposed by the involved parties that want to join the programme and young people can apply to do volunteering within these projects.

Another news is that related with the “sport” civil service, with whom the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the State Under Secretary to the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers with the sport mandate, commit to support initiatives of common interest aiming at the valorisation of the role of youth in the Universal Civil Service within projects for social sport at local level.

These initiatives belong to the framework of actions promoted for the strengthening of the Universal Civil Service as a tool for education and development of the new generations, also referring to the projects of the PNRR and of the resources intended for its implementation.

On the 13th of February 2022 it has been announced a law proposal aiming at the revisioning of the discipline of the Universal Civil Service and at the redefining and coordinating of the different governance levels of youth policies.

This included the institution of an “Interministerial Committee for the Younger Generations” (CIPG), with the role of ensuring the coordination and the programming of youth policies.

Moreover, the institution of a “National Plan for Younger Generations” has been foreseen to guarantee the right to education, a facilitated access to jobs for young people and the valorisation of their competences and education.

The recognition of the profession of the youth worker is among the expected innovations, together with the introduction of systematic tools for analysis and verification of the impact generated by public policies on younger generations.

For what concerns the Universal Civil Service, after the abrogation of the Annual Plan envisioned by the decree law nr. 152 of the 6th of November 2021 and the birth in L’Aquila of the “National Centre of the Universal Civil Service”, inserted in the last budget law, this new proposal aims at the simplification for the subscription and the administration of the Entities Register, as well as of the evaluation and approval of the programme of interventions.

The law proposal also intends to enhance the training of young voluntary operators, improving their employability by investing on the validation and on the certification of the professional competences acquired through formal and non-formal processes, also utilizing institutional digital platforms as databases of the professional formal and non-formal competences and of the individual digital CV.

Following the bilateral cooperation deal in the youth field between Italy and France, signed in Paris on February 15 2022, there is the will to promote youth mobility and to strengthen the opportunity to perform civil service in foreign countries, especially European ones. The government also plans to increase and evaluate the impact of the programmes of civil service in socially vulnerable areas, through actions supporting intergenerational solidarity.

The Law Proposal after the passage with the Committee of Ministers, must pass the approval by the two chambers. After that the Government could adopt the related legislation within 12 months.

According to what emerges after a first analysis of the new plan for the Universal Civil Service presented on January 20th 2023, the approach is in continuity with the plan approved until 2022. The main innovations concern the financial side, since in 2023 the PNRR resources (around 216 millions), will be added to the ordinary ones, and the same will be happening for the years 2024 and 2025, anticipating a more complex situation when it comes to the implementation and sustainability of the started projects.

For what relates with the courses and the contents of the activities to be promoted through the Universal Civil Service instead, there would be the same trend of the previous three-years period, with the following themes: citizens and community wellbeing, safeguarding peace and the Constitution, participation, the continuation of the experiment of the Digital Civil Service and so on.

Among the most recent debates, a report entitled 'Il Servizio Civile Universale' (Resolution No. 6/2024/G of 2 February 2024) of the Court of Auditors was published, which analysed the management of the PNR measure related to the Universal Civil Service, provided for by mission M5C1- Labour Policies - Investment 2.1. The report analysed the progress of the measure during 2023. Specifically, the first programming cycle, covering 2021, ended on 15 September 2023, with 46,804 volunteer workers participating. The second cycle (2022) is underway and will end in September 2024. As of 31 December 2023, 49,650 volunteer operators had started.