Senate examines its revamp, wading through 7800 amendments

Renzi bill would cut Senators from 315 to 100

(ANSA) - Rome, July 21 - A Senate vote on a bill presented by Premier Matteo Renzi's government to turn it into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with minimal law-making powers is unlikely to take place Monday as expected. "I doubt we'll manage to vote on it today," said the bill's rapporteur Anna Finocchiaro, who is from the ruling Democratic Party (PD).

The bill is the result of a deal Renzi struck with three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, to overhaul Italy's costly, slow-moving political machinery. But the package faces staunch resistance from other opposition parties, above all the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), and from minorities within FI and within Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD). A reflection of the degree of dissent is the fact that 7,800 amendments have been presented to the package. These amendments are what the Senate will start voting on Monday. Renzi, who has embarked on an ambitious reform programme since unseating his PD colleague Enrico Letta to become premier in February, has staked his credibility on revamping the Senate and said he will quit politics completely if he fails.

He is aiming to have the bill to change the Constitution to make the revamp possible finish its first reading in the Upper House before the Italian parliament's summer recess starts on August 10. "This obstructionism may mean we have to work a week more and sacrifice some of our holidays, but we'll keep our promise to (deliver) change," Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi told the Senate before it starts voting on the package. If approved, the overhaul of the Senate will see it reduced from 315 lawmakers plus life Senators to just 100 members, mostly regional councillors and mayors who would not get an extra salary for working in the Upper House. The logic is that this would save money and make passing legislation easier.

Boschi added that the M5S was "hallucinating" with its claim that the government is taking an authoritarian approach with the reform. "I've heard some people talk about an authoritarian change. This is a hallucination and, as with all hallucinations, it cannot be denied with the power of reason," said Boschi, prompting howls of disapproval from M5S lawmakers. "There is nothing authoritarian. Talk of illiberal change is a lie and lies are good for nothing in politics". The tension is high even though Renzi has opened talks with the M5S on his plan for a new election law - a bill that is also the result of a deal with Berlusconi - after its leader, comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo, dropped his refusal to deal with the traditional parties.

It looked like the dialogue had broken down after the second of two meetings between Renzi and the M5S last week, when Grillo said the "time was up" for new talks. But on Sunday Grillo said on his popular blog, which gave life to the Internet-based M5S in 2009, that the movement would go back to the negotiating table when Renzi provided answers on six issues it has raised. Renzi has said he is willing to extend the talks to his Constitutional reforms and has suggested there could be a compromise over the M5S's demand that the members of a revamped Senate do not to have parliamentary immunity from arrest.