Reform politics

8 April 2014 By Neil Unmack Follow @unmack1

The Italian premier hopes that turkeys will vote for Christmas, and the Senate will agree to be shrunk with limited powers. That would make governments stronger. Renzi has two big sticks: the threat of a referendum, and the populist pressure of comedian Beppe Grillo’s party.

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Silvio Berlusconi said on April 5 that his centre-right Forza Italia party would not support the Italian government’s proposed Senate reform without changes.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wants to seek the first round of approval for the Senate reform before the European parliamentary elections on May 25. The reform involves cutting the numbers of senators to 150 from 315, and converting the upper house into a body composed of regional representatives, rather than directly-elected parliamentarians. The new Senate would no longer have the right to appoint the government or approve the budget.

Berlusconi described the reform as “unacceptable” in a telephone address to a party event. He had previously said his centre-right Forza Italia party would back the package, whose outlines he agreed with Renzi in January.

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