They marched together for the first time against the far-right and right-wing coalition that has governed Italy since the end of 2022. The leaders of Italy’s three main opposition parties – Democratic Party (PD, center left), 5 Star Movement (M5S, former anti-system) and Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (AVS, left) – participated, Tuesday June 18, in a joint demonstration against the constitutional reforms planned by the ultraconservative majority in power in Italy, which brought together nearly of 2,000 people in Rome.
Elly Schlein (PD), Giuseppe Conte (M5S), Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli (AVS) denounce reforms which will divide the country between the rich North and the disadvantaged South, strip Parliament of its powers and endanger the independence of the judiciary. Each of the three right-wing and far-right parties in power, Fratelli d’Italia (FDI) the post-fascist party of the head of government Giorgia Meloni, the far-right League of Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia (FI), founded by Silvio Berlusconi, however, made one of these reforms his hobby horse.
One of these measures has just taken a first concrete step: that of the election by universal suffrage of the head of government. The Italian Senate, in fact, approved on Tuesday evening the text which provides that the president of the council is elected for a period of five years and that the coalition which provided its support to the victorious candidate is granted at least 55% of the seats in Parliament .
This reform is desired by Mme Meloni, who qualified her on Tuesday on of “first step forward to strengthen democracy and provide stability to our institutions”. The opposition sees parliamentarians at the behest of the president of the council because in the event of a vote of no confidence in the head of government, the dissolution of Parliament is automatic.
Strengthen regional autonomy and reform the judiciary
The second reform consists of strengthening the autonomy of the regions in terms of organization and financing of education, infrastructure and environmental protection, in particular. The government believes that public projects will be all the more effective while opposition fears a widening of inequalities between the rich regions of the North and poorer regions, including Sicily and Sardinia.
The third reform, that of the judiciary, provides for the complete separation of the training, careers and status of judges and prosecutors, accused of collusion of bodies to the detriment of the defense, while the opposition denounces the risk of “the subjection of the prosecution to the executive”. “We will not allow this right to overturn the constitution”launched Elly Schlein.
Many Italian, Palestinian and PD flags adorned the square in the center of Rome where the demonstration was held, the slogan of which was: “For the defense of national unity”.
The path of these reforms remains uncertain because any revision of the Italian Constitution must be adopted twice, by both houses of Parliament in the same terms and with a minimum period of three months between each vote. And if the last two votes do not reach two-thirds of the seats, a referendum must be organized. However, the ruling coalition does not currently have this two-thirds majority on the proposed text.