Prisons Decree: Opposition Still on Barricades Away from Commission
Opposition still on the barricades, in the Senate, for the Prisons decree, after the majority’s no to all two hundred amendments presented by Pd, Iv, M5s and Avs. The minority, all of them, asks that the game be reopened in the Chamber where the measure must arrive next Monday, July 29, and announces that it will re-present all the proposed amendments. Not only that, it also advances the request to anticipate, to give more time to the debate, the discussion in the Assembly. In the meantime at 2 pm he will not participate in the continuation of the work in the commission: he disputes the ‘modus procedendi’ and the merit of the decree considered at the moment only an ’empty frame’. Then he launches a warning to the government forces: the majority’s no is a no not to the opposition but to do something “for the dramatic situation” in which the Prisons find themselves, to “do something concrete” for overcrowding. There is a “responsibility of the majority – is the complaint – that is not only political but moral” because the decree as it is “does nothing”. And again: the majority “is also saying no to the President of the Republic who a few minutes ago spoke about Prisons inviting politics not to turn a blind eye”. Nor is it missed to note the absence of the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio from the work of the commission: “it is absurd that he has come only once to the commission since the beginning of the legislature”. Explaining it to reporters with a unanimous voice are Anna Rossomando and Walter Verini for the PD, Ada Lopreiato for M5s, Ivan Scalfarotto of Iv, Ilaria Cucchi for Avs.
Meanwhile, this morning, on the Prisons decree – for which it is not at all excluded that it could move towards a vote of confidence – sparks flew in Transatlantic between the Democrats Rossomando and Verini and the Minister of Justice Nordio who was asked to open up to the opposition’s proposals. A back-and-forth that was reproduced in the Senate Chamber between the opposition and the president of the Justice Commission Giulia Bongiorno. “Yesterday evening in the Justice Commission what we had unfortunately denounced happened: the majority, leaving the opposition groups unheard, did not accept any amendment, did not allow a necessary discussion on the measure. Since the commission has abdicated its function, we ask to speed up the arrival of the measure in the Chamber and to have Minister Nordio come”, said the leader of the Democratic Party Francesco Boccia. “The debate on the amendments was done pro-forma – said the M5S group leader Stefano Patuanelli – rejecting everything the opposition proposed. We find out from the agencies that the political issue that divided the majority was resolved with reformulations and that therefore everything is fine, madame la marquise. Perhaps before announcing it to the agencies, a passage in commission to inform the opposition of those reformulations would have been appropriate”. “It was said that there was no institutional correctness because reformulations were announced to the agencies. Error – Bongiorno’s reply – In reality this morning there was a commission, the reformulations were made but the opposition was missing”. The minority then declared to journalists with Anna Rossomando: what is happening shows that “we are still at the point where they must rot in prison”. “They are also saying no to the President of the Republic who invited politics not to turn a blind eye”, said Walter Verini. “The no is a no to the very serious situations of suffering in prisons,” Rossomando noted. “Parliament has a responsibility that is not only political, it is also moral. As long as the decree is like this and does not affect the situation, we do not want to share the moral responsibility of doing nothing in the face of a tragedy,” observed Ivan Scalfarotto, of Italia Viva. “We have reached 58 suicides, we cannot continue in this way,” underlined Ilaria Cucchi. And Lopreiato spoke of an empty “frame,” and then responded to reporters: “it is absurd that Nordio has come to the commission only once since the beginning of the legislature and it was mandatory. On such an important topic, I believe it is unacceptable that he does not come to the commission.” Likewise, Scalfarotto underlined, of the guarantor of prisoners who declined the commission’s invitation.
Prisons Decree: Senate Majority Summit, ‘Synthesis Found’
On the Prisons decree, the majority finds an agreement to reformulate “in a restrictive sense” the proposals put forward by Forza Italia. A summit was held in the Senate with the Keeper of the Seals, Carlo Nordio, and the president of the Justice Commission, Giulia Bongiorno. “The majority is absolutely united. We have only identified some summaries on the amendments in order to find a shared solution between the various factions, limiting a little some amendments by Forza Italia, with a formulation that has found broad agreement. They have been a little narrow”, said Bongiorno. The commission is suspended for the work of the Chamber. “We express satisfaction for the synthesis and cohesion in the majority”, also underlined the deputy minister Francesco Paolo Sisto. “A political synthesis has been found that is satisfactory for everyone. We are in the reformulation phase”, he explained. The ‘blue’ amendments are those that contain deflationary measures with respect to prison overcrowding.
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