A bill on legalising cannabis
will not be voted on until after parliament's summer recess in
September, Walter Verini, an MP for Premier Matteo Renzi's
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said on Monday.
Some 2,000 amendments have been presented to the bill,
which is set to be debated on the floor of the Lower House on
Monday, mostly by lawmakers opposed to it.
"Today we will start the debate (on the bill) without any
hypocrisy, but the the examination of the bill will be postponed
until September and then the parties will have to decide what
approach to take," said Verini, the PD leader in the Lower
House's justice committee.
Regional Affairs Minister Enrico Costa, whose portfolio
includes family affairs, said in an interview published by
Naples daily Il Mattino on Monday that the bill does not have
enough support in parliament to pass into law.
"We have other priorities to tackle," said Costa, a member
of the New Centre Right (NCD) party, a junior partner in Renzi's
coalition government.
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