Less than 24 hours after the presentation of the constitutional bill to abolish the Senate, a surprise clash takes place between the President of the Assembly of Palazzo Madama and the Prime Minister. The provision to overcome bicameralism will be approved today in the Council of Ministers and provides for the transformation of the Senate into a Chamber of Autonomies made up of unelected members as mayors of the capital and presidents of the Regions.
A proposal that does not convince the second office of the state, which in an interview with the newspaper La Repubblica asks that the Assembly remain elective, saying they are worried about the stability of the constitutional spaces and a possible reduction of direct democracy: as for savings, they could however obtain by reducing the total number of MPs and allowances. According to Pietro Grasso, "entrusting decisions on rights and ethical issues to a single chamber could lead to intermittent laws, which change with each legislature, on issues that deeply affect the lives of citizens and which also need to be examined by a chamber of reflection, as I believe the Senate should be”.
Matteo Renzi's reply was not long in coming: “I understand everyone's resistance – said the Premier on Tg2 -, but the music must change. Politicians must understand that if for years they have asked families to make sacrifices, now they have to make the sacrifices themselves. That's why we say away with the provinces, that's why the new electoral reform, that's why tomorrow (Monday 31 March, ed) the government will present the constitutional bill that says enough to the Senate that we know now. And therefore a reduction in the number of parliamentarians, the highest in Europe, a simplification of the legislative process and of the powers between the Regions and the State. The real way to defend the Senate is not to fight conservatives, but to defend the reforms we are pursuing. No more perfect bicameralism: the model we propose respects the Constitution. Our proposal says enough with the Senate as we know it now and leads to the simplification of the legislative process”.
Grasso's counter-reply arrived shortly: "It's not a conservative campaign, I'm the first scrapper of the Senate - said the second office of state -, the first who wants to eliminate this type of Senate, but the proposed Senate in the government reform draft is a contradiction in terms.” With the Chamber as a political body, the Senate "must be a control chamber that carries out inquiries", and, at the same time, "I would like a bicameral system also for major ethical issues and human rights", concluded Grasso on the microphones of In half an hour.
