Renzi presents bill for direct election of premier

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 1 - Ex-premier and Italia Viva (IV) leader Matteo Renzi said Tuesday that he had presented a bill in the Senate to reform the Constitution so that the head of government is directly elected by people.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni's ruling coalition also wants to reform the Constitution along these lines but the main opposition parties are against.
    "On the basis of what has been said, this bill has the support of the ruling majority and a part of the opposition, but it has been on ice for nine months," said Renzi.
    "Today we hand it in".
    He said his centrist, opposition party was ready to debate the bill in August, rather than going on holiday.
    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.
    Renzi proposed a major overhaul of Italy's institutional apparatus when he was premier but it was rejected in a referendum, prompting him to quit as head of government in December 2016.
    He was head of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) at the time but he left the main opposition group to form IV in 2019.
    (ANSA).