Opposition parties need to let go of
something in order for agreement to be reached on introduction
of the direct election of the premier by the Italian people,
Reform Minister Elisabetta Casellati said on Tuesday.
"The general discussion on the premiership touched on all the
aspects covered by the bill and the possible criticalities that
could be overcome," Casellati told ANSA after an initial brief
discussion of the government's controversial constitutional
reform bill in the Senate Constitutional Affairs Committee.
"I always have a positive attitude because I want to believe
that barriers and prejudices can be overcome," she continued.
"I hope so, because this is the only way to build a project
together. Everyone has to give up something," said Casellati,
reiterating that the ruling majority has "given up a lot with
the direct election of the President of the Republic, which was
part of our programme".
"I am waiting to see what the opposition is prepared to give
up," she added.
Under the current system in Italy, parties engage in
government-formation talks after a general election and then the
coalition that forms a ruling majority in parliament agrees on a
figure to propose to the President of the Republic to become
premier.
That figure is not necessarily one of the politicians given by
the parties as their premier candidate during the election
campaign.
The centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) has slammed the
proposed reform as "dangerous", saying that it "weakens
parliament and the prerogatives of the President of the
Republic".
PD Secretary Elly Schlein has described it as "a distortion of
the Constitution and the parliamentary Republic".
"We will use every available dialectical tool in parliament to
oppose a project that we consider to be dangerous," she
continued.
Leading Constitutional experts Sabino Cassese and Antonio
Baldassarre have called on the government to abandon its plans
to introduce the direct election of the premier and begin a
process of constitutional reform that is shared by the
opposition.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
