Roundup: Tension in parliament high, as Italy's cabinet speeds up on Senate reform bill

Political tension ran high in Italy on Thursday, as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's cabinet pushed a constitutional reform draft law into the Upper House to speed up its approval.

At the core of the bill was the demotion of the senate into a non-elected assembly. Italy's second chamber would be deprived of its current law-making equal status with the lower house in order to streamline legislative proceedings.

The reform has already gone through both chambers once, and it was meant to undergo a preliminary review of the amendments in a Senate committee before arriving to the full assembly.

The cabinet decided to by-pass this passage, since the over 500,000 amendments mainly presented by opposition would threaten to delay any progress of the bill, and frustrate Renzi's declared goal to have it passed to a third readings by Oct. 15.

Opposition forces harshly criticized the government for such step. Since the reform of the senate would amend Italy's constitution, the bill needs a more complicate approval process entailing two readings in each chamber, and a two-third majority in the second of these votes.

"The (constitutional) reform moves forwards amid protests," leading Corriere della Sera newspaper highlighted. "An epic battle has begun in the Senate today," Corriere's main analyst Antonio Polito said. "Much in the next days will depend on president of the senate Pietro Grasso, who has to decide how many amendments will be allowed, and what articles of the reform would be concerned."

Renzi's center-left cabinet can count only on a slim majority of seats in the Upper House. As such, it was not clear if it has enough support to have the bill approved, and whether its future will be at risk in the coming weeks, according to local media.

The reform's most contested point was Art. 2 of the bill abolishing the direct election of senators.

According to the draft law, future members of the Upper House would be cut from the current number of 315 to 100, and would be selected among those of Italy's regional assemblies, serving without any extra-salary.

Opposition forces, and also dozens from Renzi's own Democratic Party (PD) opposed the change, arguing it would undermine Italy's democracy.

They also complained the cabinet was not giving enough space to dialogue over reforms that would crucially amend the country's profile.

The cabinet said the country would become more stable, and lawmaking easier and faster. Renzi took office in February 2014 promising a major overhaul of Italy's political machinery and economy, and declared constitutional reforms were the core issue of his mandate. So far, he looked ready to carry on his plan.

"The pressure of Renzi is now being exerted on the whole parliament," Italy's main business daily Il Sole 24 ore wrote on Thursday. In recent talks with his coalition partners, the prime minister would have said he was still willing "to negotiate," the paper reported. "But he clearly added if the direct election of senators came again under discussion and his majority lost the vote, the only solution would be for him to go to the head of state (to resign)."

President of the senate Grasso quite clearly described the level of political struggle that would accompany the third readings of the reform in the coming weeks. "These days are frantic and the next, I fear, will be even worse," Grasso said. Endit