Fast-divorce bill clears Senate

(ANSA) - Rome, March 18 - The Senate on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at speeding up divorces in Italy with 228 votes in favour, 11 against and 11 abstentions. The bill now returns to the Lower House for its third reading in parliament. The so-called fast-divorce bill aims to reduce the separation period needed for a divorce in which the split is consensual and no children are involved from three years to six months.
    On Tuesday the Senate voted to scrap a section of the bill that would have enabled married couples wanting to split to obtain an immediate divorce, without a period of separation. The bill's rapporteur, Rosanna Filippin, a lawmaker for Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), suggested withdrawing the immediate divorce provision in order to speed up the legislation's passage through parliament.