The Italian Senate on Wednesday
began snail-paced voting on some 8,000 amendments to a
Constitutional reform bill presented by the government of
center-left Premier Matteo Renzi.
The so-called Boschi bill, after its rapporteur, Reform
Minister Maria Elena Boschi, seeks to change the Constitution to
overhaul Italy's slow, costly political machinery.
The central part of the package is a transformation of the
Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government
representatives with minimal lawmaking powers.
While it has the backing of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi,
the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI)
party, there is staunch resistance from other opposition groups
such as the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), and from
within FI and Renzi's own centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
"No obstacle will stop us," Renzi vowed.
"Constitutional reform is like the PIN that lets you turn
the phone on and start making calls," the young premier went on.
"Without it, we will never have the credibility to carry
out labor, tax, and public administration reform".
Renzi was hoping to have the first reading in the Senate
completed before parliament's summer recess next month, adding
that any major amendments passed during the first reading in the
Senate, possibly using a secret vote to breach party lines,
would be fixed later.
"They might be able to play some little jokes on us with
the secret vote, but we'll go back to the Lower House and sort
that out," he said.
Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso, who is from the ruling
Democratic Party but has voiced opposition to the bill, fielded
what he called an "unprecedented" 920 requests for voting to be
secret, with 500 of those requests referred to the first two
articles of the Boschi bill.
Half-way through the afternoon, Grasso authorized secret
votes, but only "on amendments referring to articles 1-18 of the
bill, which deal with the functions of the houses of
parliament".
The Senate then proceeded to vote against two amendments
abrogating voting districts for Italians residing abroad.
With the government determined to stick to its guns and
opponents unwilling to back down, the Senate has embarked on
what looks to be a long, hot summer: beginning on Monday, it has
been ordered to work from 9am to midnight and on weekends, until
voting on the amendments is through.
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