Senate reform bill moves ahead

(ANSA) - Rome, October 2 - The Senate resumed debate Friday on the government's hotly contested Constitutional reform bill, tackling the thorny issue of Article 2, which would would cut the Upper House down by a third, from its current 315 members to 100. On Thursday, Premier Matteo Renzi said that approval on Article 1 and agreement on Article 2, comma 5 was a "brilliantly achieved" victory that he considered the "hardest part" of the overall bill's passage. Nearly 40 votes are scheduled for Friday on Article 2, some of which will be secret ballots. On Friday morning, the Senate session was suspended in order to evaluate reformulating proposed amendments to Article 2. The suspension was most likely due to two amendments submitted by the anti-immigrant, rightwing Northern League party, for which secret ballots were previously permitted but then requested to be reformulated to permit them to be voted on separately.
    Five secret votes were quashed, leaving just one of the secret ballots announced two days ago. It is on an amendment filed by Northern League Senator Roberto Calderoli, which includes a change to the way future regional Senators are voted in. According to the amendment, this would be by universal suffrage.
    That amendment was rejected in a secret vote with 160 against, 116 in favor, and three abstaining.
    Also on Friday, the Senate rejected an amendment that would have scrapped Article 2 of the government's Constitutional reform bill, on the election and composition of the future regional Senate. The amendment got 176 nays, 120 in favor and four abstentions.
    Speaker Pietro Grasso suspended the sitting for several minutes after Lucio Barani, a Socialist who leads the so-called Liberal-Popular and Autonomous Alliance (ALA) caucus, allegedly made an obscene gesture - reportedly miming oral sex - directed at anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) Senator Barbara Lezzi.
    This caused women Senators from various parties to attack Barani, demanding he apologize.
    The alleged culprit, however, insisted his gesture had been "misunderstood".
    "Since the escalation has reached the point where it undermines civil coexistence, from now on there will be absolute rigor," Grasso promised.
    Barani later left the Senate, and issued an apologetic statement.