Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Inquadramento della disciplina sul procedimento amministrativo. – 2. La partecipazione al procedimento: il dovere di audizione degli interessati in tre tipologie procedimentali. – 3. Il procedimento a stella (Sternverfahren) e la conferenza di servizi (Antragskonferenz). – 4. Gli accordi di Public Private Partnership. – 5. Considerazioni conclusive.

Abstract

This essay focuses, in a diachronic perspective, on the relationship between consensus and administrative simplification in German Law. Three main aspects are analyzed: the participation of private individuals in administrative procedures and the related hearing right; the instruments aimed at coming to a consensus more quickly among the different administrations involved in the procedure (“star procedure”, Sternverfahren and “conference by request”, Antragskonferenz); and the public-private partnership agreements. This paper argues that the combined analysis of consensus and simplification in Germany reveals how the relationship between citizens and the public administration has changed over the past decades. Starting from a concept of strong separation between civil society and public administration at the beginning of the 20th century, the idea of private individuals participating in the administrative procedure has slowly been introduced (see the federal statute on administrative procedure, Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz, of 1976). Subsequently in 1996, the federal legislator introduced instruments for cooperation among different administrations (Sternverfahren and Antragskonferenz) and today there are new instruments aimed at involving private individuals at the decision-making level. In this way, Public Private Partnership instruments ensure that the decisions that are taken are the result of the will of both public and private subjects.