Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Italy
| Ministero dell'Interno del Regno d'Italia | |
 Logo used by the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Italy since 2002 | |
| Ministry overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | March 17, 1861 |
| Type | Ministry |
| Jurisdiction | Italian Government |
| Headquarters | Palazzo del Viminale |
| Motto | Viviamo per Servire (En: We live to serve) |
| Employees | 425,000 |
| Annual budget | £ 1,100,450,000 |
| Minister responsible |
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| Ministry executive |
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| Parent department | Italian Government |
The Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Italy (It: Ministero dell'Interno del Regno d'Italia) is the key Ministry which has the responsibility for policing, emergency and rescue management, national security, religious affairs, regulation of relations with the Catholic Church and other allowed religions, administration of the fund for worship, supervision and co-ordination of local governments, institutions of public welfare and charity, public administration, the organization and superintendence of state archives, demographics, and immigration matters. The ministry is headed by the Minister of the Interior; although the incumbent holder is Minister Secretary of State Angelo Spaniccia, ordinarily the Chief of Government holds the Interiors portfolio.
Heart of the State power
The Ministry of Interior has a fundamental importance in the economy of public administration, as his powers as varied as important, that it can be defined as the principal instrument of power. The functions of the Ministry of the Interior are based on the model of being a generalist administration, the true cornerstone of the State and of the policy conducted by the Government. Nonetheless, the main services under the Ministry of the Interior are primarily those relating to the maintenance of public order and public security.
The Ministry of the Interior was defined in 1953 by Minister Adalberto Baldoni as an "aircraft carrier administration", with a function serving the overall government activity.
The prefectures, as provincial government offices on the national territory, are the tools for the exercise of the specific competences entrusted to the Ministry of the Interior, and directional junctions of the territorial activity of the entire Government: in this sense, the Ministry of Interno represents a real hub, on which the various administrations depend for the territoriial coordination on the national territory. This concretizes the general administration function of the Ministry of the Interior.
Ministry of Interior and M.V.S.N.
An illustration of the M.V.S.N.’s political leverage was the development of a tangible liaison between the upper echelons of the M.V.S.N. and of the Ministry of the Interior. While at times this link appears loose, in that it is characterised by a series of short-tenured (former) M.V.S.N. affiliates and officials at the deputy level, the high proportion of M.V.S.N. personnel within the Ministry of the Interior, particularly during critical moments, is illustrative of the M.V.S.N.’s political clout as a junior arbiter.
Central organization
The ministerial central organization is characterized by three levels of top hierarchy:
- Senior management, consisting of the Minister, his own staff bodies, the Undersecretaries of State and of the Secretary General;
- Functional management, consisting of Directorates General, governed by the Directors General, formed according to a grouping criterion based on the input;
- Divisions, which are the operational macro-units.
Within the Ministry of Interior, communications between the Directorates-General are secondary to internal communications within the individual Directorates, and there is no high environmental variability. The structure of the Ministry ensures that the Directors General assume sub-organizational objectives limited to their function, allowing senior management to see the organization as a whole and to ensure the smooth flow of processes. The functional grouping of activities offers a vision based on the specialization of human resources skills: administrative processes unfold across multiple functions, while the same function can be unfolded by multiple processes. As a peculiarity of the Ministry of Interior, all top officials, as well as a significant part of Minister's staff offices members are Prefects.
The Ministry is therefore divided into 11 Directorates General, each of which is in turn a sum of central and peripheral offices, and one Inspectorate-General:
- Directorate General for the Civil Administration of the Interior (Direzione Generale per l'Amministrazione Civile dell'Interno)
- Directorate General for the Civil Services (Direzione Generale per i Servizi Civili)
- Directorate General for the Public Security (Direzione Generale per la Pubblica Sicurezza); the Directorate-General represents a partial exception to the functional model because it is organized in order to function almost autonomously.
- Directorate General for the Demography and Race (Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la Razza)
- Directorate General for the General Affairs and Civlian Personnel (Direzione Generale per gli Affari Generali e il Personale Civile)
- Directorate General for the Religious Affairs (Direzione Generale per gli Affari Religiosi)
- Directorate General for the Fund for Worship (Direzione Generale per il Fondo per il Culto)
- Directorate General for the Fire-fighting Services and Civil Defence (Direzione Generale per i Servizi Antincendio e la Difesa Civile)
- Directorate General for the Public assistance (Direzione Generale per la Pubblica Assistenza)
- Directorate General for the Welfare Activities (Direzione Generale per le Attività di Assistenza sociale)
- Directorate General for the State Archives (Direzione Generale per gli Archivi di Stato)
- Inspectorate-General of Administration (Ispettorato Generale di Amministrazione)
Minister of Interior
The Minister of Interior is the supreme hierarchic apex of the entire Ministry. of his ministry: he has the power to give orders and to subject, to control all organs subordinate to him, to revoke inappropriate acts may be adopted by them, to delegate the exercise of certain functions and to take upon for himself powers of subordinate organs and administrative procedures dealt with by Ministerial organs. The Minister has management responsibilities towards the entire ministry; he can also assign these management functions to subordinate offices, also through the delegation. Therefore the political leadership, along with functions of policy guidance, has broad functional, supervisory and operational responsibilities.
The hierarchy also finds application in the system of administrative protection: there is, in fact, the possibility to appeal to the higher authority hierarchic body that has adopted an administrative act. Such an action, possible precisely because of the position of supremacy, is recognized to the addressee of the administrative act that is considered flawed, which can request its annulment, for reasons of both legitimacy and merit.
The character of hierarchic superiority is somewhat different in the field of Public Security. The Minister of Interior is the National Authority of Public Security and, as such, is in charge of the security preservation in all the national territory (including the Italian Empire); powers related to this function are exercised directly by the Minister or, through delegation, by the Director General of Public Security. Likewise, is the Minister the authority who takes all necessary measures to maintain and preserve order and public security and the Administration of Public Security works on his delegation and guidance, with the partial exception of the Provincial and Local Authorities of Public Security, which have tasks conferred to them by law and not by Minister's decision.
The Minister has at his immediate disposal three office types: secretariat, staff offices and ministry offices (including the secretary general). While staff and ministry offices are fully hierachically subordinated to the Minister, they are designed to provide smooth service and course of administrative activities. On the other hand, both the secretariat and staff offices are tasked with the support of the Minister's own policy-making rather than the execution and implementation of policies decided by the Minister himself. Secretariat offices (Minister's Secretariat, Personal Secretariat and Technical Secretariat, for a total of 45 officials and employées) are tasked with the close support of the Minister's personal action and activities.
The Minister may also appoint up to six trusted Advisers.
Minister's staff offices
The Minister has some bureaucratic bodies wich help him to direct the whole Ministry and to conduct the political activity towards parliamentary and government steps; these offices are the Cabinet of the Minister and the Secretariat Offices for Minister and Undesecretaries of State. The Research Office and the Legislative Office are experts staffs at the service not only of political leaders but also of the whole ministry apparatus for examining complex cases and the formulation of draft regulations.
Cabinet of the Minister
The Cabinet of the Minister (It: Gabinetto del Ministro) works with the Minister for the effective definition of objectives, the development of public policies, assessing their implementation and propaganda activities. It deals with the connection of the political leadership with the Administration and sometimes it can be tasked with the carrying out of certain functions.
The Chief of Cabinet is a Prefect First Class, assisted by two Deputy Chiefs of Cabinet, who hold the rank of Prefect of the Second Class. The Cabinet consists of 11 offices, each headed by a Vice-Prefect, in turn assisted by other officials of the prefectural career, for a total of 170 units. The Cabinet offices are:
- Office I - General Affairs
- Office II - Public Order and Security
- Office III - Public Aid and Civil Protection
- Office IV - Internal Affairs
- Office V - Territorial Affairs
- Office VI - Demography and protection of the race
- Office VII - Immigration
- Office VIII - International Affairs
- Office IX - Special Secretariat and Cypher Service
- Office X - Ceremonial
- Office XI - Financial Planning and Management
Office I - General Affairs
The Office deals with support to the Chief of Cabinet in the activity of direction and coordination to the other staff offices and with the Administration. It is responsible for the internal management of personnel and relations with fascist labour unions, for general affairs and for supervision of officials assigned to staff offices. The office is also responsible for the management of information systems and documentation, also archival. Finally, it deals with the preliminary practices for the Awards and Decorations.
Office II - Public Order and Security
The Office is an particularly sensitive body, because it operates as the connection point in the field of public order and security; it holds relations with the relevant Divisions on the subject and with the network of public order and security offices of the prefectures about affairs of political interest. The Office assists the Minister in issues relating to the planning policies and direction of the Police Forces, including the problems of organization. It analyses issues of particular importance related disciplines in penal law and order and public security, and maintains relationships about security matters.
The Office is the body responsible for the development policies of the conditions of legality and security in the provinces and the local police. It also cures the problems of the legal relief is not in order and public safety.
Finally, the Office provides advice in the areas of police and security subsidiary administrative matters and special legislation for public safety, law mafia, drugs and money laundering.
The office strictly requires for membership the enrollement in the Fascist Party.
Office III - Public Aid and Civil Defence
The Office conducts affairs relating to civil protection, the urgent technical assistance, fire prevention and industrial risk. To fulfill its tasks, the Office assists the Minister about the management of civil protection in the territory and between institutions, on relationships about civil defence with the Prefectures, on ecological and environmental issues and on the National Firemen Corps.
Office IV - Internal Affairs
The Office is the body responsible for matters relating to the general representation and the government and handles matters relating to general programming politico-administrative and financial activities of the Ministry and the related verification. It is also the organ of reference for the legislation about trade union rights in essential public services, for relationships with the Catholic Church (about matters which regard the Ministry of Interior) and the other allowed religions and for issues of the national economic, social and labour order.
Office IV - Internal Affairs supports the Minister for union and organizational issues and, as well as the internal controls of any kind. In addition, the Office receives applications and proposals for rewards merit and social value.
Office V - Territorial Affairs
The Office performs the inherent control over the organs of local authorities, maintains relationships with the corresponding Directorate-General and with Prefectures. It is the office that deals with municipal and provincial affairs, for authorized casinos for the civil state and the registry services.
Office VI - Demography and protection of the race
The Office deals with the support to demographic services and with the enforcement of the racial segregation (in both metropolitan and Italian Empire territories); in order to achieve this result, the Office maintains relationships with all Directorates General which are involved. Office VI, furthermore, deals with the National Fascist Party in order to monitor and handle racist, nationalist and xenophobic feelings and tendencies, if related to the preservation of racial differences.
Office VII - Immigration
The Office VII is the terminal for business relating to immigration and immigration contrast, also maintaining relationships with central offices and prefectures. It also manages the affairs relating to political asylum.
Legislative Affairs Office
The Legislative Affairs Office assures the Minister's support in the legislative activity and in the drafting of the normative texts, carrying out research and study activities. The Office usually examines the measures submitted to the Council of Ministers and those of parliamentary initiative, providing legal advice to the Minister, as well as to the Directorates General. To this end, the Office may avail itself of the collaboration of the research offices established within the Directorates General of the Ministry. The Office consists of up to 85 employées.
General directive for administrative activity and management
The General directive for administrative activity and management (Direttiva generale per l'attività amministrativa) is a programmatic document issued every year by the Minister of Interior which identifies the general guidelines for the activity and management of the Ministry and identifies the strategic objectives and the connected operational objectives to be achieved during the year.
While depicting strategic targets, from a formal point of view the general directive for administrative activity and management has the value of an administrative circular and its contents are equivalent to an administrative order.
Inspectorate-General of Administration
The Inspectorate-General of Administration (Ispettorato Generale di Amministrazione) is the chief inspection body directly dependent on the Minister of Interior. The Inspectorate carries out functions and duties concerning inspections, inspections and administrative inquiries on behalf of the Minister of the Interior, on the orders of the Duce, or of the Chief of Government, also upon request of other ministers or at the request of the Secretary General of the Interior.
Organisation
The Inspectorate-General of Administration is subdivided into five inspective areas (central offices, other ministries, North, Centre and South) and five central offices:
- Office I - Coordination and General Affairs;
- Office II - Legal and legislative affairs;
- Office III - Analysis and documentation;
- Office IV - Targeted Projects;
- Office V - Internal archive.
The Head of the Inspectorate is a Prefect, 1st Class (Rank III), assisted by up to thirty -five Inspectors-General (including at least three Prefects). The Inspection Boards are composed of two or more Inspectors-General and a Director-General (Rank IV).
Mission
The Inspectorate carries out periodic inspections at the central and peripheral offices of the Administration of the Interior, according to the program issued annually by the Minister, carries out extraordinary inspections at the administration offices, and also at the institutions and bodies that are employees or supervised by the administration. and inspections and inquiries to other ministries, institutes or public bodies supervised by them, on the orders of the Duce, or of the Chief of Government, also upon request of other ministers.
The Inspectorate also carries out checks on labor relations, checks on the administrative and accounting regularity of the administrative action carried out by the various offices and the detection of proceedings that are not concluded within the terms established by law. The Inspectorate proceeds to the analysis and elaboration of the situations encountered for the adoption by the competent structures of the appropriate measures.
Moreover, the Head of the Inspectorate (acting as the Minister) is given the power to replace the manager or the defaulting official in case of inaction or delay of the competent office at the end of the procedure.
Inspections and inquiries
There are "inspections" and "inquiries". The inspections consist of acts of control performed periodically or on an extraordinary basis to ascertain whether the activity of a public office is carried out in a regular manner. The inquiries, on the other hand, consist of investigations promoted and carried out to ascertain the truth of certain situations of fact and to clarify all the elements relevant to the exercise of the powers of intervention due to a superior authority over the lower one.
Both forms of detection can give rise to the ascertainment of responsibilities from the disciplinary, accounting, patrimonial, civil and penal point of view. The inspection activity concludes with a detailed analytical report and a summary summary sheet, both drawn up by the inspectors, supplemented by a communication from the head of the Inspectorate that highlights certain aspects deemed significant from a political-administrative point of view.
Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Interior is the senior official, reporting directly to the Minister, which ensures the coordination of administrative action. The Secretary-General assists the Minister of the Interior for the administration of the Ministry.
The Secretary-General ensures the development of guidelines and programs of the responsible Minister, coordinates the offices and activities of the Ministry, monitors their performance and efficiency, and reports periodically to the Minister. He also ensures the carrying out investigation procedure for acts pertaining to the Minister. The Secretary-General proposes to the minister the strategic orientations of the ministry, develops its capacity for anticipation and proposes its evolutions. To this end, the Secretary-General coordinates the action and evaluation of all services and proposes to the Minister the division of resources between them.
The Secretary-General also proposes and develops the general principles of human resources management and is in charge of political affairs.
The Secretary-General also carries out the coordination of the activities of the directorates-general, the resolution of conflicts of competence, coordination with the Directorates General of the training of personnel, the formulation, after having consulted the Directors General, of proposals to the Minister. He is in charge of coordinating the policy of the Ministry of the Interior and animating the territorial action of the Ministry, with the exception of the Directorate General of Public Security.
The Secretary-General presides, when there is not the Minister, the Standing Conference of the Directors General of the Ministry. The Secretary General makes use of a Secretariat.
The office of Secretary-General is conferred by decree of the Duce of Italy, upon the proposal of the competent Minister. The incumbent Secretary-General of the Ministry of Interior is Prefect, 1st Class Benito Landolfini.
Director General and Directorates-General
The Director General is the official responsible for a Directorate-General. The Directorates-General, which are functional groupings, are in turn subdivided into Divisions; both Directorates-General and Divisions are established or disestablished (along with their own functions and responsibilities) by the Minister of Interior, through his own decrees, within the functions which are assigned by the law to the Ministry. The positions of Director General are conferred by the Chief of Government, on the proposal of the Minister of Interior.
The Directorates-General may issue administrative acts with external effects both based on their own functions and responsibilities, assigned by the legislation, and based on functions and responsibilities delegated by the Minister; the latter ones are the most numerous.
In the Ministry of Interior, all Directors-General and the majority of divisional heads are Prefects.
Directorate General for the Demography and Race
The Directorate General for Demography and Race (Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la Razza, often shortened in Demorazza) is the body within the Ministry of Interior which is responsible for the study and implementation of the measures regarding demographic and racial matters.
Directorate General for the Civil Administration
The Directorate General for the Civil Administration of the Interior (Direzione Generale per l'Amministrazione Civile dell'Interno) is the Ministry subdivision responsible for main and foremost tool for the territorial political control and for immigration management, since it provides both general and technical assistance to the local authorities; while major cities may organize their own specialized services, smaller centres must rely on the central Ministry for advanced services being carried out. The Director General is authorized to exercise the functions of the Minister in relation to local affairs, coordination, guidance and promotion of administrative initiatives. He is responsible for the coordinated exercise of powers.
Directorate General for the Civil Services
The Directorate General for the Civil Services (Direzione Generale per i Servizi Civili) is the Directorate-General of the Interior Ministry in charge for providing actual direct management administration: handling of food reserves, coordination, regulation and operation of public and charities, financial provisions for those Decorated of a civil or military award, provisions for those in need. Due to the direct handling of financial and material resources, the Directorate-Generale is particularly monitored by anticorruption bodies. The Directorate General for Civil Services consists of four Divisions and three Inspectorate/Audit services:
- Division I - General and confidential affairs;
- Secretariat of the Director-General;
- Section I - General Affairs;
- Office I - Studies;
- Office II - Legislation;
- Office III - Legal Affairs;
- Office IV - Coordination with the Ministry of Health and of Social Assistance;
- Section II - Confidential Affairs;
- Office I - Emergency planning;
- Office II - Management of reserves in the event of an emergency;
- Office III - Security of Reserves;
- Division II - Charity;
- Section I - Private charity;
- Section II - Public charity;
- Section III - Provisions in favour of the those awarded with Decorations;
- Section IV - Examination of requests for help;
- Section V - Corporatist governance: in charge for involving social stakeholders in development of social assistance and charity actions.
- Division III - Storages and reserves;
- Central Office for Planning;
- Central Office for Research and Draft;
- Section I - Food Reserves;
- Section II - Material reserves;
- Section II - Energy reserves;
- Division IV - Minors policy: in liaision with the Directorate General for Sport and Youth of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and with the Ministry of National Education. The Division carries out an auxiliary role in respect the Ministry of National Education, with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers having a coordinating role.
- Office I - Interventions in favor of minors exposed to the risk of crime;
- Office II - Support for families;
- Office III - Urban neighborhoods at risk of crime;
- Office IV - Neglected and at risk minors;
- Office V - Coordination;
- Office VI - Minors removed from the family;
- Office VII - Youth Policies: in liasion with the G.I.L .;
- Office VIII - Project implementation and management;
- Office IX - Secretariat for the Interministerial Committee for Youth Policy;
- General Inspectorate;
- Financial Inspectorate;
- Audit Service.
Division III - Storages and reserves
Division III - Storages and reserves (Divisione III - Ammassi e Riserve) is the organiation in charge of the national food distribution and stockpile management. The Division is mainly responsible for organising and implementing the national strategy and the collection, rotation, and management of emergency reserve materials in accordance with the overall development plan and variety catalog of the national reserve. According to the overall development plan of the national reserve and the catalogue of varieties, the Division organizes the implementation of the national strategy and the purchasing, storage, rotation and daily management of emergency reserve materials, and implement relevant utilization plans and instructions.
The Division is subdivided into three Sections, which directly operate storages and reserves:
- Central Office for Planning: the Central Office monitors changes in the supply and demand of international and domestic food and strategic materials, produces forecast and early warning, undertakes the specific work of circulation macro-control. The Central Office works in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Activities and the Ministry of Corporations (and with agricolture-related Corporations).
- Central Office for Research and Draft;
- Section I - Food Reserves;
- Office I - Planning;
- Office II - Withdrawal;
- Office III - Acquisition;
- Inspectorate for Food Reserves - Northeast;
- Inspectorate for Food Reserves - Northwest;
- Inspectorate for Food Reserve - Centre;
- Inspectorate for Food Reserve - South;
- Inspectorate for Food Reserve - Sicily;
- Inspectorate for Food Reserve - Sardinia;
- Joint Central Commission for Agriculture;
- Section II - Material reserves;
- Office I - Planning;
- Office II - Withdrawal;
- Office III - Acquisition;
- Inspectorate for Material Reserves - Northeast;
- Inspectorate for Material Reserves - Northwest;
- Inspectorate for Material Reserves - Centre;
- Inspectorate for Material Reserves - South;
- Inspectorate for Material Reserves - Sicily;
- Inspectorate for Material Reserves - Sardinia;
- Section II - Energy reserves;
- Office I - Planning;
- Office II - Withdrawal;
- Office III - Acquisition;
- Inspectorate for Energy Reserves - Northeast;
- Inspectorate for Energy Reserves - Northwest;
- Inspectorate for Energy Reserves - Centre;
- Inspectorate for Energy Reserves - South;
- Inspectorate for Energy Reserves - Sicily;
- Inspectorate for Energy Reserves - Sardinia.
Central Office for Planning
The Central Office for Planning (Ufficio Centrale per la Pianificazione) is the "brain" of Division III - Storages and reserves. The Central Office monitors changes in the supply and demand of international and domestic food and strategic materials, produces forecast and early warning, undertakes the specific work of circulation macro-control. The Central Office works in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Activities and the Ministry of Corporations (and with agricolture-related Corporations).