Renzi denies secret Berlusconi deal amid reform rush

As Senate approves several articles of premier's reform bill

(ANSA) - Rome, August 4 - Premier Matteo Renzi has denied speculation he sealed a secret deal with Silvio Berlusconi to win the Forza Italia leader's support for his reforms to Italy's political machinery and a new election law. Renzi, the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), denied reports that three-time premier Berlusconi had requested a special measure that would enable him to stand in elections again after becoming ineligible following a definitive tax-fraud conviction last year.

"The time of laws tailor-made for the benefit of a specific person is over," Renzi said in an interview published by Rome-based daily La Repubblica on Monday. "Do you really think I'd sign something with Berlusconi and hide it in a drawer? This is the result of a culture of suspicion, nurtured by a part of the left". Renzi and Berlusconi are set to meet sometime this week to discuss electoral law reform, with the date and time to be confirmed, PD officials said. Meanwhile, voting on Renzi's Constitutional reform bill resumed Monday after Senators late last week approved its first two articles which, with a total of 4,500 amendments between them, were the most hotly contested by opponents. Of the two articles approved last week, the first stripped the Senate of most of its lawmaking powers and concentrated them in the Lower House, while the second cut the number of Senators from 315 to 100, of whom 95 are to be chosen by regional councils and five to be nominated by the Italian president. It passed with 194 votes in favor, 26 nays, and eight abstentions.

On Monday, the Upper House approved article three of Renzi's bill, eliminating life Senators - appointed by the president of the Republic in recognition of social, scientific, or artistic merit - and replacing them with Senators appointed to a non-renewable period of seven years. Opponents had filed 90 amendments to this article. With 193 in favor, 9 against and eight abstaining, it also approved the ninth reform article, denying parliamentary immunity to members of what will be the new, slimmed-down Senate with reduced lawmaking powers. The voting continued amid yet another walk-out by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), which staged a similar protest last Friday along with MPs from the left-wing SEL party and the anti-immigrant, separatist Northern League. "This trashy piece of reform doesn't deserve our participation," said M5S Senate whip Vito Petrocelli.

While the M5S continued to bluster and pout, Italy's premier pronounced himself satisfied with the pace of reform after overcoming what appeared only last week to be an unbreakable standoff with opponents of his bill. "Things really are changing," Renzi tweeted.