Govt to propose direct election of premier - Tajani

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 31 - Premier Giorgia Meloni's government is set to propose a Constitutional reform that would see the head of government directly elected by the people, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters on Wednesday.
    Meloni has vowed to revamp Italy's institutions to ensure government reflects the will of the people and is more effective and stable, saying this was part of the manifesto for her coalition's victorious election campaign last year.
    This month she started a round of consultations with opposition parties on such reforms.
    Options included the direct election of the president as head of government by the people; a French style semi-presidentialism where the head of state is the head of government but picks a premier to carry out their programme; and the direct election of the premier by the Italian people.
    After those talks, Meloni said the opposition parties had all come out against the idea of directly electing the Italian president, who under the current system is not the head of government but acts a a sort of referee of Italian politics, while stressing that opinions were varied about the idea of a directly elected premier.
    Under the current system, parties engage in government-formation talks after a general election and then the coalition that forms a ruling majority in parliament agrees on a figure to propose to the head of State to become premier.
    That figure is not necessarily one of the politicians given by the parties as their premier candidate during the election campaign.
    "We don't have any prejudices, but it seems to me that we are going towards a proposal for the direct election of the premier," Tajani said.
    He said the Constitutional reform should come in alongside government's plans to allow regions to have greater levels of autonomy.
    In February, Meloni's government adopted a framework law on differentiated autonomy which would enable regions to request wider competencies and retain more of the tax revenues collected in their areas.
    Critics have said this will favour wealthier regions to the detriment of poorer ones. (ANSA).