'Better a kangaroo than a snail' - Renzi

(ANSA) - Rome, July 31 - Premier Matteo Renzi told his Democratic Party (PD) on Thursday that speedy reforms are better than stagnation.
    "Our reform style is not to avoid the kangaroo but the snail," he said.
    Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso has started to apply the so-called kangaroo rule, which says that the outcome of voting on one amendment automatically counts for all similar amendments, in order to speed voting on Renzi's Constitutional reform bill, which has been bogged down by almost 8,000 amendments filed by its opponents.
    This made it possible to knock down over 1,800 of the amendments on Tuesday and Wednesday, amid furious protests from opposition Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) and 5-Star Movement (M5S) lawmakers.
    Also on Thursday, Renzi downplayed his government's first defeat in the Senate, which approved an amendment extending the responsibilities of the revamped assembly to "ethically sensitive issues".
    The amendment passed in a secret vote, with 154 Senators in favour, 147 against and two abstentions.
    Renzi's Senate revamp bill is under attack by the opposition, but also by dissidents within his own PD and within the center-right Forza Italia (FI) party of Silvio Berlusconi, which co-sponsored the reform.
    "I bet others voted against (my bill)," Renzi said.