(see related)
Parliament is sovereign and will
decide on a proposal by the League party to scrap the two-term
limit for regional governors rejected by a Senate committee,
party secretary and deputy premier Matteo Salvini said on
Thursday.
"The proposal has been rejected at the committee stage and now
it will be discussed in the assembly, which is sovereign and the
citizens will know how to choose," said Salvini during an
election campaign tour in Sardinia ahead of regional elections
on Sunday.
"In my opinion, it is a shame to retire mayors and governors
after two terms in office, even if they are very good, highly
appreciated and voted for," he continued, after the Senate
Constitutional Affairs Committee rejected the amendment
presented by his right-wing majority party with coalition
partners Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Forza Italia voting
against.
"It is a mistake, because these days finding a good mayor and a
good governor is not easy, and if citizens consider them to be
good and want to re-elect them, they have the right to do so.
The League's position in this sense is clear," said Salvini.
Separately on Thursday the Conference of Regions, the forum for
interregional institutional dialogue, sent a letter to Regional
Affairs Minister Roberto Calderoli requesting a meeting on the
issue.
The Conference, composed of Italy's 21 regions and autonomous
provinces, has repeatedly spoken out in favour of scrapping the
limit on terms in office, most recently in December.
Meanwhile Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti, whose second term in
office ends in 2025, said there is a "gigantic political
short-circuit" on the issue.
"Lawmakers who are opposed to additional terms of office for
governors and mayors have sometimes been sitting in parliament
since the 1980s and 1990s, so a sort of geological era ago,"
said Toti.
"This happens in a Republic where there is no limit for the
premier and for ministers and where the government is discussing
the direct election of the prime minister," he added.
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