Lorenzo Guerini, the deputy secretary of Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), said Tuesday that the whopping 150,000-euro fines that the 5-Star Movement (M5S) is introducing for members who breach a code of conduct shows the need to pass a new law regulating Italy's political parties.
The case concerns the fines envisioned in the M5S's rules for its candidates in the upcoming Rome local elections and published by daily newspaper La Stampa. This code of conduct restricts the freedom of movement of elected M5S officials, and has been criticised for turning them into puppets of the movement's leaders - comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo and theorist Roberto Casaleggio. The 150,000-euro penalty includes possible damages to the M5S's image.
"In addition to being ridiculous, the fines for dissent proposed by the M5S confirm the inescapable need to proceed without hesitation to debating and approving a new law on (political) parties," Guerini said. "I understand that the M5S are opposed because it means guaranteeing transparency in the life of political parties, ...pluralism, and freedom of dissent". The stated aim of Internet-based M5S, which is currently Italy's second-biggest political force according to opinion polls, is to destroy the traditional party system that it says has generated economic decline and corruption. Grillo said Tuesday that the code of conduct does not abolish internal dissent, and that M5S candidates know they will incur hefty fines if they fail to respect that code. The M5S, meanwhile, said Tuesday it has identified savings that could add a billion euros to cash-strapped Rome's city coffers ahead of local elections in the Italian capital. The movement said that 404 million stemmed from "services offered free to the Vatican and taxes not collected and not contemplated by the Lateran Pacts (regulating relations between Italy and the Holy See)". Another 216 million would come from a clampdown on local tax evasion, while 200 million more would stem from the city's real estate assets, following a scandal that revealed the council was renting out flats in luxury areas at a pittance. The M5S said it was the first to uncover this scandal. It said some 10 million more could be saved by cutting chauffeur-driven cars for politicians.
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