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Italian PM seeks senate support for referendum
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday sought the backing of the fragmented Senate for his new government as a fresh threat emerged to the legacy of his predecessor Matteo Renzi.
Gentiloni won a vote of confidence in the lower chamber of parliament on Tuesday and needed to secure a similar vote in the upper house Senate before his government could take office.
Renzi resigned recently after voters rejected his constitutional reform plan in a referendum.
Another of his flagship projects, a shake-up of the labour market, could suffer the same fate with Italy’s main union demanding a plebiscite on the law.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Constitutional Court has said it would review the request on Jan. 11, if it gives the green light to the CGIL union, a referendum on the Jobs Act could be held before next summer.
Business leaders denounced the move to overturn the reform, which made it easier to hire and fire workers.
While the Labour Minister Giuliano Poletti told newsmen that the union initiative made it more likely that national elections would be brought forward.
Following the referendum defeat, Renzi supporters feared the anti-establishment drive will push Italians to shoot down the Jobs Act.
The referendum would be automatically delayed by up to 12 months, by bringing forward the national vote.
As stated by Poletti, it seems the prevailing attitude is to go to elections soon, before any referendum on the Jobs Act.
Stung by his Dec. 4 referendum defeat, Renzi has said he wants elections by June 2017, a year ahead of schedule, but a new electoral law needs to be drawn up first.
In a speech to the Senate, Gentiloni said his government, which is a virtual carbon copy of the previous administration, would seek cross-party consensus on the new law.
Many senators representing opposition parties quit the chamber before Gentiloni spoke to protest over the make-up of the new cabinet.
They said the recent referendum showed Italians did not want continuity but rather a new beginning.
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