The clash over the referendum on differentiated autonomy heats up. Roberto Calderoli evokes the rejection of the questions by the Constitutional Court. “There are clear elements of inadmissibility”, throws the stone the Minister of Regional Affairs. Words that the opposition interprets as the fear of losing the consultations, after the massive adhesion to the collection of signatures, over 500 thousand, which could represent an obstacle on the reform path of the government. “He’s afraid of the popular vote”, is the response coming from the opposition. From the Democratic Party to Avs they read the minister’s statement as an inappropriate invasion of the field: “It is up to the constitutional court to decide”, the minorities point out. They are counting on the popular vote, but there are those who warn about the hypothesis of inadmissibility: “The risk is there”, admits Riccardo Magi, secretary of +Europa.
Angelo Bonelli, spokesperson for Europa Verde and parliamentarian for Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, in a video posted on social media on Saturday 3 August spoke of “over 600,000 signatures” collected in just over 7 days.
Calderoli explains in an interview with Affaritaliani: “Since differentiated regional autonomy is complex and therefore heterogeneous and linked to the budget law, the abrogative referendum should not be admissible. It being understood that obviously the Constitutional Court will decide”. Not only that, however, because this might not be the only reason that could push the Consulta to reject the questions, because “they are linked to the constitutional obligation of the law with reference in particular to article 116 of the Constitution and still in the definition of the Lep (essential levels of performance) according to letter m of the second paragraph of article 117 of the Charter but unimplemented for 23 years and repeatedly urged in its definition by the Constitutional Court itself”.
“All this in addition to the mandatory implementation of Article 119 of the Constitution, namely fiscal federalism and ordinary and extraordinary equalization,” the minister adds before specifying that the process to get to the vote will be long, and will also have to pass through the Court of Cassation “which will have to verify not only the number of valid signatures but also the relative accompanying of the electoral certificate of each citizen. That is, that five regional councils have deliberated the same referendum text, something that has not yet occurred to date,” he concludes.
“Fortunately, it is not Calderoli who decides, but the Consulta,” retorted the Democratic Party’s Reforms officer Alessandro Alfieri. “I understand that they are scared by the number of signatures collected in a few days,” the Democratic senator continued, “but Calderoli should be more relaxed. Regardless of the admissibility of the question, we are fighting this battle to raise public awareness of a botched reform that is bad for both the North and the South, complicating the lives of entrepreneurs with more bureaucracy. Not only that, the Calderoli law affects education and public health, increasing inequalities in the country.”
On the same wavelength are the M5S and Italia Viva. At Adnkronos, the pentastellato Alfonso Colucci states that “the rapid collection of signatures for the referendum sends a clear signal to Calderoli and the entire government against autonomy. We trust that the Constitutional Court, but above all the citizens, can determine the repeal of this reform that splits Italy in two and that splits the Northern Regions internally”.
For Renzi’s Raffaella Paita, however, “the minister evidently fears the popular consultation and reaching the quorum”. “We have the utmost respect for the Consulta and for the competence of the constitutional judges – she tells Adnkronos -. The parties have the task of explaining and denouncing the distortions of a law that will damage both the North and the South with its avalanche of bureaucracy. The signature collection is proceeding quickly and is a beautiful democratic exercise. The response of citizens, from North to South, has been extraordinary, more than Minister Calderoli expected. And his nervousness shows it”.
Caustic Angelo Bonelli who replies with a shrug to Calderoli’s words: “Well, said by someone who created the Porcellum, which he himself defined as a ‘dirty thing’, and which the Consulta has judged unconstitutional, is a business card of non-credibility on the part of Minister Calderoli”. The Avs representative also remarks: “What counts are the signatures that have been reached in a few weeks, which have already reached the quorum of 500,000, and which we hope will reach a million”.
However, doubts remain. For Colucci, “Calderoli bases his statements on the connection to the budget law, but it is a formal connection, not a substantial one. And the other objections raised seem to be surmountable by the examination of the Constitutional Court”.
And Magi also raises the alarm on the possibility of rejection: “The risk is there” not so much on the connection between the law and the budget law, which “is formalistic, not effective, also because no spending commitment is foreseen but rather could refer to another law”, but on the Constitutional Court which, “in recent years, has gone well beyond the confines of article 75 of the Constitution by restricting the possibility for citizens to vote in certain referendums”.
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