The Lower House whip for Silvio
Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia (FI) party said Wednesday
all the opposition caucuses have agreed to jointly gather
signatures to request a referendum on Premier Matteo Renzi's
constitutional reform law, which was definitively approved
yesterday.
"The opposition caucuses have agreed to gather the
signatures together as soon as the law is published in the
Official Gazette," MP Renato Brunetta told ANSA over the phone.
A minimum of 126 lawmakers must sign a referendum petition
in order to make it valid, and no opposition caucus can reach
that many on its own.
According to the Constitution's Article 138, laws amending
the Charter must be ratified by popular referendum if requested
by one-fifth of the members of either chamber of parliament, or
by 500,000 voters, or by five regional councils.
"The Article 138 referendum protects the opposition, given
that the majority has already expressed itself in approving the
reform," Brunetta explained.
"If the opposition declines to gather signatures, it means
they agree with the reform".
No referendum is needed if Constitutional reforms are
approved by an absolute majority in parliament, which did not
happen in the case of Renzi's reform.
The reform is already slated to go to a so-called
'confirmative' referendum in October on which Renzi has staked
his political future.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
