The Valle d’Aosta: self-definition, self-determination and safeguards for a negotiated regime of constitutional autonomy

The Italian policy of neutralising the danger of any internationalisation of the Valle d’Aosta question has rendered it a purely internal state matter in the eyes of its governments and of a large proportion of public opinion, which for some, seems to legitimise a potential challenge to the very existence of this Autonomous Region. After the surge in public opinion witnessed in the Aosta Valley at the end of the Second World War, questions regarding the possible exercise of an external right to self-determination in the form of secession have never returned to the regional political agenda. Local political energies have mainly been directed to the practical exercise of regional autonomy through activities of the Regional Council and Government and of representatives of the Valley in the Italian Parliament.