Green Pass at work, after the OK from Palazzo Madama to the trust on the conversion of the latest decree into law, one wonders: what is the use of Parliament anymore?
The news was silenced by most of the media; in fact, few realized that yesterday the Senate voted to trust the conversion law of the decree-law n. 127/2021 and today it’s up to the Chamber.
We are not at all surprised that the decree would have been converted into law, the majority supporting the government is Bulgarian and there were no risks. But precisely because there were no risks, why put trust and prevent parliamentary debate? What need was there to humiliate Parliament in this way, once again?
Our Constitution, in art. 77, regulates the cases in which the government can exercise the legislative function, typical of Parliament. There are two cases: the delegating law with which the Chambers authorize the government to legislate with a legislative decree (the one that will be used, for example, for the reform of justice) and the decree-law, which can be issued by the executive “in cases extraordinary necessities and urgencies ”, and which must be converted into law by the Chambers within sixty days, under penalty of loss of effectiveness.
Draghi has by now accustomed us to the issuing of decree-laws in bursts, including the last, the legislative decree n. 127 of 21 September 2021 – so urgent that it came into effect almost a month later, October 15 – with which it was introduced the obligation of the green pass in the workplace, under penalty of suspension from work and pay. The process of conversion into law, an exclusive function of the Chambers, is the tool that the Constituent Assembly has given to Parliament not only to proceed with the conversion of the decree into law, but above all to carry out checks on the legislative function exercised by the government in the “cases extraordinary necessities and urgencies “, so much so that conversion can take place with changes. The parliamentary experience is chock full of decree-laws converted into law by the Chambers with changes and improvements such as to upset the content of the decrees. This is parliamentary democracy.
If, on the other hand, the government legislates with a decree-law and then raises the question of trust in the conversion process (as happened yesterday, however, on a divisive issue such as the green pass), it is evident that Parliament is completely deprived of its functions, reducing itself to exercising a mere notarial role. The decree-law had time to be converted into law by November 20; therefore, there was plenty of room for a healthy parliamentary debate. But nothing. Vote and shut up! To tell the truth there have been a couple of changes, and they are those agreed by the majority parties during the work in the committee, but it is nothing: the right for private sector workers to deliver a copy of the green pass to the employer of work (with consequent exemption from daily checks) and the temporal extension of the rules on controlled prices of tampons from 30 November to 31 December 2021. The government has accepted these two irrelevant changes and included them in its maxi-amendment, asking the question of trust. And this is a slap in the face of democracy.
Ours is still formally a parliamentary republic, in which everything revolves around the central role of Parliament. Proceeding by means of decree-laws and issues of trust in the conversion paths, the legislative function is effectively transferred from Parliament to the government, specifically in the hands of the “man alone in command”. And then we are no longer a parliamentary republic but a presidential directorate, with the power to “make laws” no longer in the hands of Parliament but in those of the first consul.
Both executive and legislative powers are essentially concentrated in Draghi’s hands, while the power of control (President of the Republic and Constitutional Court) are now only formal and useless. Nobody can disturb the “control room”, another body that the Constitution does not provide and that it is not clear who it is composed of.
The confidence passed in the Senate with 199 votes in favor and 38 against. All the majority parties are in favor, against the Brothers of Italy and a large portion of the mixed group. It is worth noting a political fact, which was also silenced by most of the newspapers. Twenty-nine senators of the League (out of a total of sixty-four) did not participate in the vote, including Matteo Salvini. Thirteen were on a mission, okay, but the rest? This signals a long-known malaise within the League. But nothing more.
Soon the Chambers will be engaged in the discussion of the budget law, but even there it is likely that the government limits the debate to only two steps, posing yet another question of trust. At this point one wonders what parliament is for, to pay good salaries with our money?
#Green #Pass #passed #debate #Parliament