(ANSA) - Rome, February 15 - Gianni Cuperlo, leader of a
left-wing minority within the ruling Democratic Party (PD), said
Monday a bill introducing civil unions for same-sex couples was
"already a mediation" and that Premier and PD Secretary Matteo
Renzi was right to oppose dropping a controversial stepchild
adoption clause.
"(Interior Minister and New Centre Right leader) Alfano
must be answered by recalling that parliament is sovereign and
that the Cirinnà bill is already a mediation and that everyone
has had to renounce part of their convictions," Cuperlo, a
member of the Lower House, said in reference to the proposal
that takes its name from the PD Senator Monica Cirinnà who drew
it up.
Voting on the bill is due to begin in the Senate on Tuesday
afternoon.
On Sunday Alfano appealed to Catholics within the PD and to
members of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) to
vote against the stepchild adoption clause introducing the
possibility for one partner in a civil union to adopt the other
partner's biological child.
"It is no scandal if the majority backing the Cirinnà bill
is broader or even different from the one backing the
government," Cuperlo added.
Civil unions bill 'already a mediation'
'Everyone has had to renounce convictions,' PD bigwig says