'Bear Trap' may be used, as reform bill stalls

It may be necessary to use parliament's controversial debate-cutting 'bear trap' (tagliola) to combat the obstructionism that is making the progress of the government's Senate reform bill painfully slow, the Senate whip for Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said Thursday. Opponents to the plan to turn the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives have tabled around 7,800 amendments to the bill.
    Time-wasting tactics mean that only a handful of those have been voted on since the package reached the floor of the Upper House this week. The bear trap speeds up debate by setting time limits on lawmakers' speeches.
    The government is aiming to see the bill, which seeks to save public money and make passing legislation easier, complete its first reading in the Senate before parliament's summer recess next month.
    "For the fifth time the PD has appealed to all the parties for a very significant reduction in the number of amendments," said PD Senate whip Luigi Zanda after work on the bill was halted for an urgent meeting of whips Thursday.
    "The hope is that it will be accepted. There are legitimate forms of obstruction, but our (parliamentary) regulation also features ways to reduce the work. I'm referring to article 55 that makes it possible to reduce the times (of speeches)". Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi, meanwhile, said that the government was willing to negotiate about certain aspects of the bill in exchange for big cuts in the number of amendments.
    "The government is willing to examine some issues, but it won't give in to the blackmail of 7,800 amendments," she said. "If there is a substantial cut, we are willing (to talk)".
    Boschi added that bill can be amended but must not be "turned on its head". "The government is always willing to improve the text," she said.
    The minister blasted the obstructionism as damaging. "We'll keep going. It's not a serious way to behave to conduct obstructionism in this way. It affects the dignity of this institution," she said. The bill has the backing of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party. But there is staunch resistance from other opposition groups, led by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the leftwing SEL, and from within FI and Renzi's own PD. 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.