President Sergio Mattarella on
Wednesday night promulgated the government's controversial
'differentiated autonomy' law allowing Italy's regions to keep
back more of their tax take for their own policy ends, a law
that critics say will widen the north-south gap and which
opposition parties had asked the head of State to send back to
parliament for fresh deliberation.
The Senate and Lower House whips of the opposition 5-Star
Movement (M5S) said last Thursday that they had written to
Mattarella asking him to consider using his Constitutional
prerogatives to send the law back to parliament.
Whips Francesco Silvestri and Stefano Patuanelli said the
government had used an ordinary law, rather than the
Constitutional law they allegedly should have used, to
"undermine the constitutional order" with the so-called 'Split
Italy' legislation.
The controversial measure, which won final approval in the Lower
House last Wednesday, will enable regions to request more power
over how the tax revenues collected in their areas are spent.
Opposition parties say it will worsen Italy's north-south divide
as it will favour wealthier regions in the north.
The M5S, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the other
opposition groups have said they are going to collect signatures
to hold a referendum on abolishing the law.
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