(Shutterstock image generated by AI that misinterpreted the request for “commissioner”)

Law No. 400 of August 23, 1988: “In order to achieve specific objectives approved by Parliament or the Council of Ministers, or to address particular and temporary needs for coordination among state administrations, Extraordinary Government Commissioners may be appointed.” This is a position with exceptional and extraordinary powers, limited in duration.

According to the most recent estimates, in June there were 73 Extraordinary Commissioners appointed by Palazzo Chigi active in our country, and another 55 within the ministries.

The activities for which the appointment of these officials has been necessary are extremely varied, characterized above all by urgency or by the need to resolve overlapping jurisdictions among different agencies. By being able to operate through expedited procedures, in derogation from existing regulations, the Extraordinary Commissioner avoids the delays typical of procedures subject to the approval of executives and officials, on whose desks cases often languish.

The fact is—as we discussed with Massimo Ferrarese, Special Commissioner for the implementation of the measures necessary for hosting the 20th Mediterranean Games (see interview here)—that, setting aside the steps that were literally “skipped” thanks to exemptions, a manager’s ability to take responsibility for making a decision could also help streamline “ordinary” procedures.

Yet the examples are striking. In the public works sector, completion times are infinitely shorter where there is a Special Commissioner: in addition to the Mediterranean Games, whose facilities were built in a year and a half, there is the now-classic example of the Caivano sports center rebuilt under Commissioner Fabio Ciciliano; but also on the agenda is the project to build stadiums, with strict deadlines, for Euro 2032, under the leadership of Special Commissioner Massimo Sessa.

Rather than streamlining bureaucracy, we therefore prefer to circumvent it by creating a parallel, extraordinary, and accelerated bureaucracy.