The Italian parliament has taken the
first step towards hastening the notoriously slow process of
getting divorced in Catholic Italy.
The Lower House on Thursday approved a bill to speed up
divorce proceedings.
The aim is for divorces to take 12 months in cases in
which the split is contested and six months when it is
consensual.
At the moment, couples must have been separated for
at least three years before they can file for divorce.
The bill moves to the Senate after clearing the House with
381 votes in favour, 30 against and 14 abstentions.
Reactions to the move were mostly positive, although some
hardline Catholic politicians demurred from the generally
acclamatory response.
Voices from within the centre-left bulkhead of Italy's
right-left ruling coalition were exultant over the landslide
victory of 381 votes in favour, 30 against and 14 abstentions.
"The approval of divorce in the Lower House represents a
decisive step toward the conquest of civility that Italy has
awaited for too long," said Ivan Salfarotto, government
undersecretary for reforms and relationships with parliament.
"We have taken 11 years to reach an agreement that arrives
40 years after the referendum on divorce. Today fills a gap by
recognizing that Italian society has changed," said MP Alessia
Morani, a member of the Democratic Party (PD), which is headed
by Premier Matteo Renzi and won a decisive victory over the
weekend in the European elections.
The bill, which now goes to the Senate, aims to make
divorces take 12 months in cases in which the split is contested
and six months when it is consensual, whereas current law
requires a waiting period of three years after separation.
The bill now appears set for fast-track passage in the
Senate.
"When the text of the law reaches the Senate, we will
ensure a swift and accurate examination," said PD Senator Felice
Casson, who is deputy head of the Italian Senate justice
commission.
Casson also defended the bill for sticking up for the
interests of minors, "especially when they are victims of
couples in crisis".
Fear of undermining the rights of minors and the Italian
social fabric prompted a voice of dissention within the PD.
"I voted differently from the group on fast-track divorce,
while understanding the motivations of the measure, I maintain
that the institution of the family needs to be supported and
reinforced," said MP Giuseppe Fioroni, the head of the PD's
education department.
"This measure would have deserved a wider reflection also
involving policies to support families and minors, who are
weakest in the family context".
The PD's Alessandra Moretti also was against the measure,
as well as assorted MPs from the centre, centre-right and
extreme right.
The minority faction was represented by Eugenia Roccella of
the New Centre Right, a junior partner in Renzi's unusual
left-right coalition.
"If this goes through it will mean the advent of liquid
marriage," she warned the House.
The mostly positive reaction was noted - and hailed - by a
leader representing family lawyers.
"Now the fast-track divorce is virtually a reality. It is
only missing the seal of the Senate, but the games have already
been played," said Gian Ettore Gassani, the president of the
Association of Italian Matrimony Lawyers.
"Italy is turning a page and the fact that makes on reflect
is the absolute crossover vote in the Lower House approving the
bill. Italy has deeply changed in customs and common feelings of
Italians".
Grassani also urged further reform for unmarried and
homosexual couples "because Italy remains the only one among
major European countries to maintain an absolutely conservative
family law, which many times is in contempt of fundamental human
rights".
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