Independence movements

South Tyrol: constitutional status and the independence question

Where the question stood on 19 September 2026: the legal position after the 1992 quietus, the 2023 Landtag election, and the marginal position of the independence movement.

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Status verified as of 19 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.

Current constitutional position

South Tyrol is an autonomous province of Italy under the 1972 Second Statute of Autonomy, a settlement Austria formally declared complete before the UN General Assembly in 1992.[1][2]

The 2023 Landtag

The SVP, which has governed South Tyrol continuously since 1948, won 34.5% of the vote and 13 seats at the October 2023 election, its worst result, but retained government under re-elected Governor Arno Kompatscher.[3][4] The pro-independence Süd-Tiroler Freiheit held 4 seats.[3]

The independence movement

A modern movement continues to call for secession from Italy and reunification with Austria's Tyrol, but commentary describes it as holding only marginal support given the extent of South Tyrol's existing autonomy.[5]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: The Package led to the adoption of the Second Statute of Autonomy for South Tyrol in 1972, granting substantially expanded self-government.

    • Alcock, Antony, A Primer on the Autonomy of South Tyrol: History, Law, Politics (World Autonomies / Eurac Research) link, The Second Statute of Autonomy, 1972. Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: In 1992, upon completion of the Operational Calendar, the Austrian Government formally declared the dispute over the fulfilment of the Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement closed, handing a "deed of discharge" (quietus) to the UN General Assembly.

    • Alcock, Antony, A Primer on the Autonomy of South Tyrol: History, Law, Politics (World Autonomies / Eurac Research) link, The 1992 quietus. Source record
  3. 3.

    Claim: At the Landtag election of October 2023, the SVP won 34.5% of the vote and 13 of the council's seats, its worst result in the province's history and a decline of 7.4 points and 2 seats from the previous election; Team K won 11.1% and 4 seats, and the pro-independence Süd-Tiroler Freiheit (STF) won 10.9% and 4 seats.

    • Elections in South Tyrol: Kompatscher and the SVP lose support (L'Unione Sarda English, 2023) link, article text. Source record
    • 2023 Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol provincial elections (Wikipedia) link, results table. Source record
  4. 4.

    Claim: Despite the SVP's declining vote share, Arno Kompatscher was re-elected Governor of South Tyrol after coalition talks concluded in January 2024, and a new provincial government was sworn in.

    • Elections in South Tyrol: Kompatscher and the SVP lose support (L'Unione Sarda English, 2023) link, article text. Source record
  5. 5.

    Claim: A modern South Tyrolean independence movement continues to call for secession from Italy and reunification with the Austrian state of Tyrol, but commentary attributes it only marginal support, since the gradual implementation of extensive autonomy measures removed much of the original impetus for secession.

    • South Tyrolean independence movement (Wikipedia) link, lead and overview. Source record
    • South Tyrol: from secessionist to European dreams (openDemocracy) link, summary of the movement's marginal position. Source record

Source note

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Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/south-tyrol/status · last substantive update 24 September 2026.