By Silvia Marchetti
ROME (MaceNews) – Italy’s rightist leader Giorgia Meloni is pushing through parliament a key constitutional reform to boost powers of the head of government by introducing the direct election of the prime minister, which opposition sources warn would concentrate too much power in the hands of one single person.
Last week, right after the Easter break when most MPs were still away, the Constitutional Affairs committee of the Senate gave an initial green light to the reform, according to which the elected premier would stay in charge for five years but with a limit of just two consecutive mandates.
But the reform also envisages a “disempowered head of state”, warns a Democrat source, “who will no longer be the only one entitled to put an end to a legislature and call for new elections”.
Under certain circumstances, also the premier could be able in future “to shut parliament” and call for a vote.
The reform text scraps the so-called “white semester” which forbids the head of state to call for an early vote if a political crisis happens during the last six months of his mandate.
This way, political parties have so far been pushed to work hard to strike last-minute deals to rescue the legislature, ensure governability and political stability and avoid an early election.
“This is all very risky, the traditional balance of powers is set to weaken, with the premier taking over much more power than necessary”, said the Dem official.
Under the current political system, parties engage in government-formation talks after a general election. The coalition that forms a ruling majority in parliament agrees on a leader to propose to the head of state as potential premier.
The election of the prime minister in Italy is indirect, and it is the head of state who appoints the premier.
Ruling coalition forces say the “strong premiership” is necessary to ensure that Italy is governed by leaders chosen by the people who are able to guarantee more stable governments”.
“Often post-vote party talks may drag on for weeks, if not months, and sometimes another election is needed to identify a clearer winner. We need to stop these hilarious situations”, said a government source.
The direct election of the prime minister by Italian voters copies the Israeli model, said another official, which has led, he said, to Israel becoming a powerful nation.
The rightist cabinet wants to give Italy greater political stability, putting an end to the past 78 years of republican history which has seen the succession of 68 wobbly cabinets, almost one each year.
But it will not be an easy job implementing such a significant reform aimed at overhauling the ‘untouchable’ constitution for the first time since 1948, when it was introduced.
The opposition, from the Democrats to the Five Star Movement, is against any reform that would give too much centralized executive power in the hands of one single individual.
The process of approval of a constitutional reform is thorny and complex.
Even though Meloni’s coalition has the majority in both branches of parliament, it lacks the required ‘qualified’ majority of two-thirds needed to approve a reform that heavily restyles the constitution.
Parliament must approve the reform twice, and each time one branch makes a slight change, it must return to the other branch and be approved with that two-thirds majority threshold, explained the Democrat source.
It is very likely that if parliament does not approve it with a majority of two-thirds, a referendum will ensue, as per Italian law, to allow Italians to express their view by voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to setting up such a powerful executive.
Meloni fears a potential referendum, argued another Dem deputy, and sees it as a “risky possibility of saying ‘good-bye’ to her role”. It could mark her demise.
Referendums do not fare well with Italians, particularly those that structurally change the constitution. In 2016 voters killed the constitutional reform sponsored by then premier Matteo Renzi, putting an end to his leadership two years ahead of time.
But while Renzi’s “incomprehensible” reform was focused on abolishing the Senate, Meloni’s is centered on an empowered prime minister, which might appeal more to Italians, argued the ruling coalition source.
“At the very least it’s much easier to understand for the man in the street than what Renzi had proposed, and which nobody ever grasped”, the ruling coalition source said.
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