Starting this week, the Chamber will crack down on deputies' absences from committee meetings: those who are absent at 50% of committee meetings will see their 4000 euro per diem reduced by 300 euro. The cut will rise to 500 euros for those who make more than 80% of absences. It is the fruit of the decision taken at the end of October by the Montecitorio Presidency's office, a choice that everyone agrees with. Says the chairman of the House Finance Committee, Gianfranco Conte (PDL): "It is consistent with what is established by the manoeuvre, it aims at a better qualification of the work of the committees".
But doesn't the provision certify the strong absenteeism in the commissions?
“At the beginning of the legislature there are many parliamentarians who ask to be assigned to merit, legislative commissions, for example the Budget Commission, Productive Activities – explains Conte – while there are few requests for technical commissions. And therefore, if there is not a strong motivation in the technical commissions, it is natural that there may also be a lack of adequate attendance”.
A situation confirmed by the deputy Renato Cambursano (IDV), member of the Budget commission: "It is depressing to see that in the hearings on the introduction of the balanced budget in the Constitution there were only a dozen deputies in the commission".
On the cut to the per diem they say "very much agree, but - he points out - it is a tool to be used cum grano salis, because it is clear that if a deputy is assigned to a junta and a commission at the same time, he cannot participate in the work at the same time of the two organisms. In any case, it is a signal, above all to make the deputies more responsible, in a future perspective that will see them elected and not indicated by the party they belong to”.
Along the same lines Rosy Bindi, president of Pd. “It is an incentive for stronger participation and to give dignity to the work in the committee, which is the place that carries out the overwhelming amount of parliamentary work. We are not keyboard crushes, called only to vote, the work in the commission must be valued ”.
“The work takes place in the commission and often – admits the president of the Productive Activities commission, the Northern League member Manuela Dal Lago – they are absent. Being an MP isn't just about pushing the button every now and then. I would even have cut the per diem higher”.
Attendance, which will be recorded for all commission sessions (therefore also for those in which there are no votes, usually convened on Mondays and Fridays), will initially be certified with signature registers, waiting for even in the classrooms commissions the mechanism for detecting 'minutiae' (parts of fingerprints) is installed, as is already the case in the Chamber.
The crackdown applies to all standing committees, councils and the legislation committee. A squeeze also comes for the "justifications" of the absences, while the president of the Chamber will work in agreement with that of the Senate to avoid overlaps between the meetings of the bicameral commissions and the permanent ones of Montecitorio.
For those accidental cases that often occur, the launch of the daily allowance cut takes place in a week in which the work of the commissions, due to a government crisis, is almost non-existent: the Agriculture and Community Policies commissions convened for Friday are on the roll, while other two have only the bureau on the calendar.
