Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni on
Monday called a referendum on the autonomy of the northern
Italian region, to take place by e-vote on October 22. A similar
referendum will take place the same day in nearby Veneto, the
region around Venice. Such so-called consultative referenda are
not envisioned under the Italian Constitution. Farm Minister
Maurizio Martina, deputy president of the ruling centre-left
Democratic Party (PD), said "it's Maroni's usual electoral
propaganda". He said "if Lombardy had wanted to do serious work
on federalism it would have done so without spending 50 million
euros and without wasting time. It did not do so".
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