Spoils System? Better to Reward Performance and Young People

THIS SYSTEM HAS ALWAYS BEEN ADOPTED TO DISTRIBUTE OFFICES AND FAVORS, AND HAS PRODUCED AN UNSTABLE, POORLY QUALIFIED AND ELDERLY BUREAUCRACY. AS EXPLAINED IN THE INTERVIEW WITH GIACINTO DELLA CANANEA

by Davide Ripamonti

By the end of January, Giorgia Meloni will have the right to exercise the Spoils System, the rule that allows each new government to rotate the ministerial managers and agencies placed under the control of the ministries within 90 days of taking office. Giacinto della Cananea, full professor of Italian and European administrative law at Bocconi University and member of the Presidential Advisory on Tax Justice, explains the history and limits of this political practice.

When and in what context was the Spoils system first established?
The Spoils system was born in the United States in the first half of the 1800s, in a profoundly different context from European governments. It was also a time of enlargement of the country in which the centralizing vision of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson’s preference for decentralization were opposed. Changing the entire administrative machine immediately proved to have negative effects, because the tasks were assigned on the basis of cronyism rather than merit, so much so that the definition Spoils System still has negative connotations. However, it should be remembered that in the United States the power of the president is subject to the control of the Senate and that, in general, there is a system of checks and balances that limits excesses.

In Italy the Spoils System was introduced in 1998, with the Bassanini reform of the public administration. It is only the beginning, however, of a tormented process.
First of all, it must be said that the first half century of republican life in Italy featured a system in which the highest leaders of the State were almost immovable, from the Chief of Police to the Accountant General, the Secretary General of the Farnesina and other positions. The Bassanini Decree no. 80/1998 introduced a Spoils System mechanism limited to certain managerial positions (which can be revoked or modified within 90 days of the vote of confidence in the government). This was subsequently expanded with the Frattini law (145/2002), which even established the automatic termination of managers appointed in the previous administration (so-called one-off Spoils System).

At this point, however, the Constitutional Court comes into play, which judged this rule unconstitutional. What are the reasons?
With judgment 103 of 2007, the Court declared the automatic termination of all managerial positions unconstitutional on a number of grounds, such as the fact that it violated the principle of continuity and that it disregarded any evaluation or opportunity to defend one’s performance. But it must be said that if the central government has often abused the Spoils System (all governments for 25 years now, with very few exceptions), the Regions have sometimes done worse. The Regional Council of Lazio, for example, in 2008 introduced a system that provided compensation for removed managers, a mechanism that was also very expensive for the regional coffers. The Constitutional Court intervened in this case as well. 

The parties justify the use of the Spoils System with the need to have a trusted management class. The way it is used, however, it often seems like a way to distribute jobs. What would be the best solution for the future?
We all complain about public administration. In fact, for  the last 25 years, managers have no longer been chosen on the basis of merit and competence. We are at a crossroads: either the Meloni government continues on this slippery slope or we realize that this system has not produced a stable and qualified bureaucracy. Spoil Systems should be suspended to give importance to performance and neutrality for the most qualified assignments. Privileged routes should be created for young people, given that public administration staff, among other issues, also have a very advanced average age.