PD leader calls for revamped govt agenda after votes

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 22 - Democratic Party (PD) leader Nicola Zingaretti said Tuesday that the government must move up a gear after Monday's results from a round of regional elections and a referendum in which the public approved a cut in the number of Italian lawmakers were seen as strengthening Premier Giuseppe Conte's executive.
    "We think that a new phase should be opened, oriented towards getting things done and concreteness," Zingaretti told a press conference.
    "A new government agenda must be launched".
    He said, for example, that former interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini's controversial migrant and security decrees, which feature huge fines for NGO ships defying entry bans, should be overhauled at the earliest cabinet meeting possible.
    The Italian public approved a cut in the number of parliamentarians in referendum staged on Sunday and Monday while a round of regional elections ended in in a tie, with the centre left and the opposition centre right .wining three each.
    In the referendum, people were asked whether to approve a law that amends the Italian Constitution to reduce the number of MPs in parliament, from 630 to 400 in the Chamber of Deputies and from 315 to 200 in the Senate.
    The yes vote prevailed with 69.64%, compared to 30.36% for the no vote.
    The fact that the centre-right opposition failed to land a decisive victory in the regional elections was widely seen as strengthening Conte's government, which is based in an alliance between the centre-left Democratic Party and the 5-Star Movement (M5S), along with other smaller groups.
    "Until a few days ago, the commentators were saying my job was on the line," Conte said Tuesday.
    "I never felt that my job was on the line.
    "Today they say I'm unmoveable, but I don't fell unmoveable".
    Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, whose 5-Star Movement (M5S) was the driving force of the campaign for this reform, hailed a "historic result".
    "We now have a normal parliament with 345 fewer posts and fewer privileges," he said.
    "This is politics that gives a signal to the citizens. "It would never have happened without the 5-Star Movement.
    "I'm proud of this result," he added, speaking to ANSA. "Today is a starting point, not a final destination" But the M5S is also in turmoil over its poor showing in the regional elections.
    "I don't think our friends in the M5S expected brilliant results in the regional elections, on the basis of past experience," Conte said.
    "Now they are in a process of transition that will continue until their political effort is revived.
    "But they have grounds for consolation as they were behind the Constitutional referendum". (ANSA).