2.3. The Ministers.

The Ministers are at the same bodies of the Council of the Ministers and bodies of vertex of the administrative apparatus in which the law divides on organically public administration, naming them Ministries. They are in definite number, the Law 317/2001 has increased the number of it to 14. The number of Ministers might be, still, also inferior to that Ministries foreseen it reads, since a Minister mediated the interims can be put before to the majority Ministries and the same President of the Council can have also the responsibility for one or more Ministries.¹⁶

President of the Council of the Ministers, felt the Council of the Ministers, has measure to publish on the Official Newspaper, as well as their possible specific tasks attributed by single laws. For the completion of their functions the Ministers, they are preferred without the financing to administrative structures of the Presidency of the Council and they have also offices of direct collaboration: it is up to them, together with President of the Council, the power of influencing on the organization of these structures.

The vice-president's office of the Council depends at present on the will of President of the Council, who can propose to the Council of the Ministers the appointment of one or more vice-presidents. It is about a relief office essentially politically, moment that does not derive any differentiation it, as for the functions, compared to other Ministers, it saves possibility of being called to replace President of the Council, in case of absence or temporary impediment (temporary post what otherwise is up to the oldest Minister of age).¹⁷

2.3.1. The Council of Cabinet and the Committees between the Ministers.

In 1983 there has been tried the informal creation of the Council of Cabinet with work of some of the Presidents of the Council. His function was to help President of the Council in the preliminary phase of the questions to be submitted then to decisions of the Council of the Ministers.

In the Article 6 of the Law 400/1988, is provided that the Council of Cabinet has created to help in the unwinding of functions of the President of a Council in direction of the general politics of I govern and of maintenance of the unity in the political and administrative address.¹⁸

The body have a stable composition, even if it is foreseen that other Ministers could be invited to take part from the single meetings “in reason of their competence”.

The President of the Council can “arrange, according to own decree, the institution of details of Ministers' committees, with the task of examining in preliminary way, it argues about municipality competence, of expressing opinion on directives of the activity of the Government and on problems of prominent importance to be submitted to the Council of the Ministers, in case availing itself also of experts not belonging to the public administration”. The internal rule of the Council of the Ministers has foreseen that it could to be part of the Committees of Ministers and also Undersecretaries “delegate or expressly authorized President of the Council of the Ministers”.¹⁹

The interdepartmental Committees are, instead, bodies created generally through special laws, that prominent they attribute government functions in specific but important sectors.

These bodies generally chaired by the President of the Council (but actually he is one I supply with vice-president's functions), they are composed by the competent Ministers for sector, which officials and experts add to themselves, in some cases, and unwind not only address activity, but also of normative type or of type you provide mentally.²⁰

In the sixties has been seen a reduction of their number and the attribution to the Interdepartmental Committee for Economic Planning(Interdepartmental committee for the economic programming) the power of coordinating Residual committees, through special directives. The Law 400/1988 has established that “Committees of the Ministers and those who interdepartmental instituted by law, have to at the right time to inform of the President of the Council of the Ministers the order of the day meetings. The President of the Council of the Ministers can submit single questions to Council of the Ministers, in order that it establishes the directives to which the Committees have to keep”.²¹

In the nineties quite 12 Committees have been suppressed, they stopped to work as well as the Interdepartmental Committee for Economic Planning, the interdepartmental Committee for the credit and saving (CICR) and the executive Committee for the services of information and of certainty (CESIS). The most recent modifications of the functions of the Interdepartmental Committee for Economic Planning are that they emphasized its list of address and coordination in relation to the definition of budget, the approval of the anticipatory and programmatic relation, to the elaboration of the addresses fundamental to support at community level, to the coordination of the politics sectors and relative plans with the definite general addresses, to the evaluation of it achieved results.²²