Parliament 'humiliated' by Renzi says Vendola

(ANSA) - Rome, February 17 - Parliament has been "humiliated" by Premier Matteo Renzi's ramming through key legislation such as the scrapping of the Senate in its present form via emergency decrees and confidence votes, the leader of the Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party, Nichi Vendola, said after meeting President Sergio Mattarella Tuesday.
    Vendola, among opposition leaders who asked to meet Mattarella last week after the government used non-stop 'river' debates to push its constitutional reform ahead, said Renzi could not "govern by 'coups de main' and accelerations that gag parliament, reducing it to a vote factory".
    He said SEL expected more "seriousness and respect" from the premier and leader of the ruling Democratic Party.
    Renzi had been relying on a deal with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi for broad support for constitutional reforms.
    That deal collapsed, and Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) joined opposition parties in boycotting votes, after Renzi had Mattarella elected without FI's agreement.