Riflessioni sul giudizio di parificazione dei rendiconti regionali

The Italian Court of Auditors (“Corte dei conti”) has jurisdiction and authority to the equalization judgement (“giudizio di parificazione”) of fiscal statements of Italian Regions, which appears as an exam on the legitimacy/rightness of the ways applied by the regional administrations in the construction of their general audit reports taking into consideration the comparison with those decisions assumed in the budget and the adjustments pursuant to the applicable fiscal rules. Therefore, the equalization judgement consists in a check of correspondence, that is to say in the assessment of the variances that, considering the equilibria set forth in the budget, emerge from the final reports, regarding both incomes and expenses. Due to the incompleteness of the normative contest, the equalization judgement has been extensively under discussion with reference to its qualification: whether it may be qualified as an act of administrative control or, rather, a jurisdictional function. Given that the legal effect of its outcome is independent from the res judicata and it is mainly related to the functional features of the Italian Court of Auditors competence who deals with the compliance with Regional laws, the contribution herein aims at presenting the equalization judgement as a sui generis act of voluntary jurisdiction.