Premier Matteo Renzi on Thursday
faced the first party crisis since becoming charismatic
Democratic Party (PD) leader three months ago, as a handful of
rebels defied the whip on a controversial reform of the Senate.
There have been rising mutterings about a deal Renzi
struck with centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi over the
reform to streamline government but thus far there had been no
open rebellion against a leader the PD has been seeking for
years, whose media savvy and command of briefs rival or outstrip
those of Berlusconi and the other main political player,
anti-establishment leader Beppe Grillo.
But the PD's bid to force the abolition of the Senate
through parliament brought into the open the opposition of the
minority faction which believes stronger government entails
keeping the Senate as a necessary check on executive power and
on a House that would just rubber-stamp the government's
decisions, analysts said.
Senator Corradino Mineo led a rebellion of 13 Senators,
including himself, prompting fears of a wider split.
But Renzi immediately squashed such speculation.
The Democratic Party (PD) is "not a taxi you can take to
get elected" and then leave complaining about an alleged
"purge", he said.
Italy is at a "crossroads" and "I cannot leave the country
to Mineo", he said, noting that a 41% win in European elections
had given him a mandate for reform.
Renzi said he was "stunned" that Mineo, who did not agree
on a deal with the centre right to turn the Senate into a
non-elected assembly, should talk about a purge.
A key Renzi ally, the reform minister, said the rebellion
by "a paltry" 13 Senators would not halt Italy's dynamic young
premier's drive to give the country an efficient political
system.
Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi insisted the
government's institutional reforms won't be stopped by the
rebels.
"The process of reform is going ahead, you can't stop it
for a handful of Senators," said Boschi.
The group of 13 PD Senators suspended themselves from the
parliamentary caucus on Thursday after Mineo was taken off the
Upper House's constitutional affairs committee because he was
not toeing the government's line.
The rebels say the decision to replace Mineo on the
commission with the PD's Senate whip Luigi Zanda, one of the
vast majority of Renzi loyalists, is unconstitutional.
The government's plan to overhaul Italy's slow, costly
political apparatus includes a revamp of the Senate to turn it
into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with
minimal law-making powers to save money and make passing
legislation easier.
Mineo, however, is part of a minority within the PD who
want the Senate to continue to be an elected assembly.
"No one asked them to suspend themselves," added Boschi.
"They'll have to decide whether to be part of the reform process
or make a different choice".
Another senior PD member, Luca Lotti, said the rebels
should not try to torpedo the reforms that got an endorsement of
sorts when the PD won over 40% in last month's European
elections.
"Thirteen Senators cannot be allowed to put into question
the will of 12 million voters and they cannot halt the reforms
that the Italian people have asked for," Lotti said.
"Mineo betrayed the agreement with the group. We are the
Democratic Party, not the Anarchy Party".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
