ROME (Reuters) – The Italian parliament authorized a contested reform granting areas extra powers after a stormy all-night sitting, an overhaul critics say will worsen the historic divide between the nation’s rich north and poorer south.
Championed by the League celebration within the coalition authorities, the decrease home handed the reform early on Wednesday after a session which ended with opposition deputies singing the nationwide anthem and waving the Italian flag.
League chief and deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini hailed “a victory for all Italians,” saying on X that the reform would assist Italy turn into a extra fashionable nation with fewer wasted sources.
League deputies brandished the yellow and crimson flag of the historic Venetian Republic, with its winged lion, because the reform was authorized with 172 votes in favour to 99 towards.
With emotions operating excessive on each side, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi joined calls to collect the five hundred,000 signatures wanted for a referendum on the difficulty.
“It’s a measure that does not help the north and harms the south. It’s institutional madness,” Renzi, a member of the higher home (Senate), stated on X.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition pushed via the reform as a part of a wider shake-up of the Italian state, together with plans for a directly-elected head of presidency.
“This is a step forward towards building a stronger and fairer Italy, to overcome the differences that there are today between the various parts of the country,” Meloni stated.
The brand new regulation permits areas to say broader powers on key public companies resembling well being and schooling, and to have an even bigger say on how taxes are spent. The League hopes the regulation will revive its fortunes in its conventional northern strongholds.
Proper-leaning Lombardy and Veneto, in addition to left-leaning Emilia-Romagna, are among the many northern areas anticipated to hunt extra autonomy. The extent of powers devolved to them will rely upon negotiations with the central authorities.
Elly Schlein, chief of the centre-left opposition Democratic Social gathering, attacked the measures as divisive and sure to extend inequality.
“This vote sanctions the existence of first and second class citizens,” Schlein informed parliament.
Italy’s north-south divide is exemplified by the financial hole between the southern Calabria area, the place gross home product per capita is about half of the EU common, and the northern Bolzano province, the place GDP per capita stands at round 150% of the EU common.
