Italian constitutional referendum, 2016
A constitutional referendum will be held in Italy probably no later than October 2016. Voters will be asked whether they approve of amending the Italian Constitution to transform the Senate of the Republic into a "Senate of Regions" composed of 100 senators mainly made up of regional councillors and mayors.[1]
The constitutional bill, proposed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his centre-left Democratic Party in 2014, was approved by an absolute majority of the MPs in both houses of the Italian Parliament, falling short of the qualified majority of two-thirds required for it to be immediately enacted; accordingly, under article 138 of the Constitution, a referendum is required for the reform to become law.[2] This will be the third constitutional referendum in Italy in fifteen years: the last two were in 2001 and 2006.
Should the electors approve the bill, it would achieve the most extensive constitutional reform in Italy since the end of the monarchy, not only influencing the organization of the Parliament, but also improving, according to its proponents, on the poor government stability of the country. Opposition parties have harshly criticised the bill, claiming that it is badly written and that it will make the government too powerful.[3]
Contents
Constitutional background
The Italian Parliament is described as a perfectly symmetric bicameral legislature, in that it has a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies) and an upper house (the Senate of the Republic) with the following characteristics:
- The two houses are elected simultaneously and for the same five-year term.
- They (mostly) share the same electorate, and have until now had similar electoral laws.
- The Government must have each house's confidence, and is responsible to both of them.
- All legislation must be passed in the same text by both houses: whenever a bill is amended by either house, it must be sent to the other one in a potentially endless process known as the navetta parlamentare (parliamentary shuttle).
Although the degree of differentiation between the powers of bicameral legislatures varies a lot, no other country in the world has a perfectly symmetric parliament as described above.
This system was designed in 1946 and 1947 in an effort to ensure that Italy would stay a consociational democracy, so as to make it impossible for Soviet-aligned parties like the Communist Party and the Socialist Party to seize power, while at the same time forcing the Christian Democracy (the largest party in Italy from 1946 to 1993) to collaborate with smaller political forces in order for it to lead the government.[4] This overly cautious compromise was criticized by some prominent members of the Constituent Assembly, including Meuccio Ruini, Giuseppe Dossetti, and Costantino Mortati (who termed the Senate the "useless replica" of the Chamber of Deputies).[5] Over the years, symmetric bicameralism has been blamed for the instability of governments, for watering down reforms as a result of the navetta, and for empowering clientelism.
Despite symmetric bicameralism, after the fall of the Iron Curtain Italy rapidly evolved from a consociational political system into an adversarial one, in which the centre-left, often led by university professor Romano Prodi, and the centre-right, led by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, would alternate in power with little collaboration: but as it is sufficient for one of the two houses to withdraw its confidence to force a government to resign, the system became increasingly unstable. During these years, several proposals to reform the Constitution were drafted (the most important of which was the subject of the referendum in 2006), but they all failed to be enacted.
Since the 2013 general election, the Italian party system seems to be evolving into a tripartite configuration, with the addition of an anti-establishment wing, the Five Star Movement, which is unwilling to make alliances with either the left or the right. According to the proponents of the constitutional reform, this makes the revision of the bicameral legislature an urgent matter. According to Gianfranco Pasquino the problem is due to the bad electoral law called "Porcellum" that has made the Senate unstable for two times.
Another critical feature of the Italian Constitution is the relationship between central government and the regions. Though a unitary state, Italy grants the regions a certain autonomy, giving them the constitutional power to pass laws on matters not reserved to the State. Disagreements about the delimitation of national and regional competences have been common since 2001: since regional authorities have no representation in the Italian parliament, the disagreements have to be resolved by the judiciary authority of the Constitutional Court. The proponents of the constitutional reform believe that this state of continuous litigation can only be resolved by allowing regional delegates to participate in the national legislature.
Political background
The first concrete attempts at reforming the Senate took place in the 1980s, when the first bicameral committee for constitutional reform headed by Aldo Bozzi was created (1983). A second bicameral committee (headed by Ciriaco De Mita, later replaced by Nilde Iotti) operated in 1993-1994, followed in 1997 by the third committee headed by the leader of leftist-democrats, Massimo D'Alema. These three attempts were completely unsuccessful.
A reform bill proposed by Silvio Berlusconi's government was finally approved by the parliament in 2005. This proposal, which would also have considerably strengthened the powers of the Prime Minister, at the same time weakening the role of the President, was ultimately rejected in the 2006 referendum.
In 2011, with the financial crisis ensuing and Berlusconi forced to resign from the position of Prime Minister, the Parliament reprised discussions on constitutional reforms at the urging of president Giorgio Napolitano. However, strong disagreements between the two main parties (the People of Freedom and the Democratic Party) prevented the Parliament from deciding on a reform.
After the 2013 general election, constitutional reform remained a prominent political topic. However, the first real breakthrough occurred when Matteo Renzi, the new Secretary of the Democratic Party, was appointed Prime Minister in February 2014. As part of his government's program, Renzi pledged to implement a number of reforms, including the abolition of the perfectly symmetric bicameralism, with a substantial decrease in the membership and power of the Senate.
As well as effectively abolishing the current Senate, the package also included a new electoral law, aimed at giving the party that came first in elections for the Chamber of Deputies a great many additional seats, allowing the formation of a stronger government.
After the proposals passed both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate multiple[clarification needed] times, Renzi announced that he would hold a referendum to secure the endorsement of the Italian people for the change. In January 2016, announcing an October date for the referendum, Matteo Renzi stated that if his reforms were rejected he would resign as Prime Minister and leave politics.[6] Some opposition parties, predominantly Five Star Movement, Lega Nord and Italian Left, and also some newspapers like Il Fatto Quotidiano and Il manifesto, accused Renzi of turning the referendum into a plebiscite on his premiership with those comments.[7]
On 15 January 2016, La Repubblica announced that Renzi had hired American political adviser Jim Messina, who had previously managed Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, to oversee the campaign for "Yes".[8]
Details of the proposed reform
Role and powers of the Senate
The Senate represents territorial institutions, with functions pertaining to the connection between the central state, its subdivisions, and the European Union.[clarification needed] It collaborates with the Chamber of Deputies in the lawmaking procedure, but usually with a lesser role. Nevertheless, senators enjoy the same immunities as the deputies.
The Senate is also given the power to assess[clarification needed] the activity of public administrations and the local effects of the policies of the European Union, to express opinions about the appointment of state officials, and to verify the implementation of national laws.
The Government does not need to have the confidence of the new Senate and cannot be voted down by it.
Composition of the Senate
- There are 95 indirectly elected senators (down from the current 315 directly elected senators).
- The senators are elected by the 21 regional councils of Italy: 74 senators are elected from among the regional councillors, while the remaining 21 are elected from among the mayors (one mayor per region).
- The Senate is not subject to dissolution; instead, when a regional council ends its term, so do the senators elected by it; other senators will be elected after the regional council is renewed.
- Additionally, the President of Italy can appoint up to 5 senators for a seven-year term; former Presidents are also senators for life.
Apportionment of seats among Regions
| Region | Seats | Region | Seats | Region | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abruzzo | 2 | Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 2 | Sardinia | 3 |
| Aosta Valley | 2 | Lazio | 8 | Sicily | 7 |
| Apulia | 6 | Liguria | 2 | South Tyrol | 2 |
| Basilicata | 2 | Lombardy | 14 | Tuscany | 5 |
| Calabria | 3 | Marche | 2 | Trentino | 2 |
| Campania | 9 | Molise | 2 | Umbria | 2 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 6 | Piedmont | 7 | Veneto | 7 |
Lawmaking procedure
The reform differentiates between two lawmaking procedures: an ordinary procedure (in which the role of the Senate is mostly consultative) and a bicameral procedure (which must be used to adopt a smaller number of laws).
Under the ordinary procedure, laws can be adopted by a vote of the Chamber of Deputies. At that point, the approved bill is sent to the Senate, which has 10 days to decide whether to examine it to propose changes, or let it be enacted without modification. If one-third of the senators ask to review the bill, the Senate has 30 days to formulate amendments and send the bill back to the Chamber of Deputies. Then the deputies will take the final decision on the Senate's proposals and on the bill as a whole: no further approval of the Senate is needed; however, a qualified majority might be required to overcome the Senate's veto for laws adopted under the supremacy clause.
The bicameral procedure works in a similar way to the current legislative practice of the Italian parliament, in that bills must be approved in the same text by both houses to be enacted, and will be forwarded from one house to the other until consensus is reached. The reform states that this more burdensome procedure, where the favourable vote of the Senate is required, is only required to enact certain categories of laws explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, which fall into the following areas:
- territorial subdivisions of Italy (regions, municipalities, metropolitan cities, and the special municipality of Rome)
- participation of Italy in the European Union (e.g. ratification of EU treaties)
- the Senate itself (e.g. its electoral law)
- protection of linguistic minorities
- referendums and other forms of popular consultation
As today, the bicameral procedure is also required to amend the Constitution: additionally, three months after being approved a first time, the constitutional amendment is subject to a second vote by both houses in which a qualified majority is needed, and possibly to a referendum.
National and regional competences
The reform would draw a line between matters reserved to the national Parliament, and matters of regional competence. The so-called "concurrent competence", according to which the national law would state principles that should later be implemented by regional laws, would be abolished. All concurrent matters would be reassigned to either the national or the regional competence.
The list of matters reserved to the national Parliament is enriched, especially with previously concurrent matters.[clarification needed] The regions, which have competence on all matters not reserved to the state, also gain an explicit list of matters of regional interest.
The supremacy clause
The Government can propose that the national Parliament adopt a law on matters that are not reserved to the state, when this is required to protect the juridical or economic unity of Italy, or to protect national interests.
Such laws are adopted according to the ordinary lawmaking procedure: however, when modifications are proposed by an absolute majority of the members of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies can override the proposals only by voting against them with an absolute majority of its members.
CNEL and provinces
The National Council of Economy and Labour (CNEL), a consultative assembly widely regarded as obsolete, is abolished.
Provinces (the second level territorial subdivision of Italy) are removed from the Constitution. This will allow ordinary laws to abolish or radically reform them.
Enhanced guarantees
- The majority required to elect the President is increased to 60% of the voting members of the Parliament in joint session. (Today only an absolute majority of the MPs, both voting and non-voting, is needed.)
- Two of the five constitutional judges elected by the Parliament are reserved to the Senate.
- When a referendum is requested by more than 800,000 electors, it will only require a reduced turnout to be valid (more than half of the turnout of the last general election, down from the current absolute majority of electors).
- Electoral laws are subject to a preemptive constitutional review by the Constitutional Court, as an additional guarantee for parliamentary minorities.
- A state of war can be declared by the Chamber of Deputies only (rather than by both chambers); however, an absolute majority of its members is required (currently, a simple majority of the votes is sufficient).
Reactions
Prime Minister Renzi was accused by some law scholars and politicians, such as Stefano Rodotà and Fausto Bertinotti, of being an authoritarian and anti-democratic leader in proposing these changes,[9][10][11][12][13] while others, like Gianfranco Pasquino, argue that the adopted texts are badly written.[14][15]
In April 2016, a paper called "Appello dei costituzionalisti" was written by 56 law scholars (mainly constitutional law scholars), showing criticism of the proposed reform and their numerous concerns: among them there are Francesco Amirante, Paolo Caretti, Lorenza Carlassare, Ugo De Siervo, Giovanni Maria Flick, Paolo Maddalena, Valerio Onida, Alfonso Quaranta and Gustavo Zagrebelsky.
Later, in May 2016, other 184 law scholars and professors of various disciplines (among whom Franco Bassanini, Massimo Bordignon, Stefano Ceccanti, Francesco Clementi, Carlo Fusaro, Claudia Mancina, Stefano Mannoni, Angelo Panebianco, Pasquale Pasquino, Francesco Pizzetti, Michele Salvati, Tiziano Treu) have signed, instead, an appeal in favour of the constitutional reform.[16]
Campaign positions
| Choice | Logo | Slogan | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
 Yes |
 |
(Just a Yes) |
|
 No |
|
(I Vote No) |
|
Main political parties
| Choice | Parties | Political orientation | Leaders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes |
Democratic Party (PD) | Social democracy | Matteo Renzi |
| New Centre-Right (NCD) | Christian democracy | Angelino Alfano | |
| Civic Choice (SC) | Centrism | Enrico Zanetti | |
| Union of the Centre (UdC) | Christian democracy | Pierferdinando Casini | |
| Liberal Popular Alliance (ALA) | Centrism | Denis Verdini | |
| Italian Socialist Party (PSI) | Social democracy | Riccardo Nencini | |
| Democratic Centre (CD) | Centrism | Bruno Tabacci | |
| No |
Five Star Movement (M5S) | Populism | Beppe Grillo |
| Forza Italia (FI) | Liberal conservatism | Silvio Berlusconi | |
| Lega Nord (LN) | Regionalism | Matteo Salvini | |
| Italian Left (SI) | Democratic socialism | TBD | |
| Brothers of Italy (FdI) | National conservatism | Giorgia Meloni | |
| Conservatives and Reformists (CR) | Conservatism | Raffaele Fitto | |
| Possible | Progressivism | Giuseppe Civati |
Trade unions and business organisations
| Choice | Organisations | Political and cultural orientation | Secretaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes |
General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria)[17] | Employers and businesses' organisation | Vincenzo Boccia |
| Neutral/Undeclared | Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) | Democratic socialism | Susanna Camusso |
| Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (CISL) | Centrism | Anna Maria Furlan | |
| Italian Labour Union (UIL) | Social democracy | Carmelo Barbagallo |
Newspapers
| Choice | Newspapers | Political and cultural orientation |
|---|---|---|
| Yes |
L'Unità[18] | Social democracy[19] |
| Il Foglio[20] | Conservatism | |
| No |
Il Fatto Quotidiano[21] | Anti-establishment |
| Il Giornale[22] | Conservatism[23] | |
| Libero[24] | Conservatism | |
| Il manifesto[25] | Communism | |
| Neutral/Undeclared | La Repubblica | Social liberalism |
| Corriere della Sera | Centrism | |
| La Stampa | Centrism |
Periodicals
| Choice | Periodicals | Political and cultural orientation |
|---|---|---|
| Yes |
La Civiltà Cattolica[26][27] | Periodical published by the Society of Jesus |
| Mondoperaio[28] | Monthly journal, official organ of the Italian Socialist Party |
Other organisations
| Choice | Organisations | Political and cultural orientation | Leaders |
|---|---|---|---|
| No |
National Association of the Italian Partisans (ANPI)[29] | Anti-fascism | Carlo Smuraglia |
Opinion polls
| Date | Polling Firm | Total | Considering only Yes/No vote | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes |
No |
None / Don't know | Lead | Yes |
No |
Lead | |||
| 18 May 2016 | Istituto Ixè | 33.1 | 35.9 | 31.0 | 2.8 | 48.0 | 52.0 | 4.0 | |
| 16 May 2016 | Istituto Piepoli | 41.0 | 33.0 | 26.0 | 8.0 | 55.4 | 44.6 | 10.8 | |
| 13 May 2016 | Tecnè | 29.1 | 25.9 | 45.0 | 3.2 | 53.0 | 47.0 | 6.0 | |
| 12–14 May 2016 | Index Research | 44.0 | 34.0 | 22.0 | 10.0 | 56.4 | 43.6 | 12.8 | |
| 10–13 May 2016 | ScenariPolitici–Winpoll | 29.7 | 30.3 | 40.0 | 0.6 | 49.5 | 50.5 | 1.0 | |
| 11 May 2016 | Istituto Ixè | 33.1 | 38.9 | 28.0 | 5.8 | 46.0 | 54.0 | 8.0 | |
| 4 May 2016 | Eumetra Monterosa | 17.0 | 26.0 | 57.0 | 9.0 | 39.5 | 60.5 | 21.0 | |
| 2 May 2016 | Euromedia Research | 30.0 | 32.5 | 37.5 | 2.5 | 48.0 | 52.0 | 4.0 | |
| 29–30 Apr 2016 | Index Research | 50.0 | 30.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 62.5 | 37.5 | 25.0 | |
| 27 Apr 2016 | Istituto Ixè | 35.7 | 34.3 | 30.0 | 1.4 | 51.0 | 49.0 | 2.0 | |
| 26–27 Apr 2016 | Demopolis | 27.3 | 19.7 | 53.0 | 7.6 | 58.0 | 42.0 | 16.0 | |
| 20 Apr 2016 | Istituto Ixè | 36.6 | 32.4 | 31.0 | 4.2 | 53.0 | 47.0 | 6.0 | |
| 18 Apr 2016 | Euromedia Research | 26.0 | 28.1 | 45.9 | 2.1 | 48.1 | 51.9 | 3.8 | |
| 12–14 Apr 2016 | ScenariPolitici–Winpoll | 29.0 | 32.0 | 39.0 | 3.0 | 47.5 | 52.5 | 5.0 | |
| 10–11 March 2016 | Index Research | 52.0 | 25.0 | 23.0 | 27.0 | 67.5 | 32.5 | 35.0 | |
| 17 Feb 2016 | Index Research | 53.0 | 17.0 | 30.0 | 36.0 | 75.7 | 24.3 | 51.4 | |
| 8 Feb 2016 | Istituto Piepoli | 42.2 | 23.8 | 34.0 | 21.6 | 64.0 | 36.0 | 28.0 | |
| 27 Jan 2016 | Ipsos SRL | 21.0 | 16.0 | 63.0 | 5.0 | 57.0 | 43.0 | 14.0 | |
| 23–24 Jan 2016 | EMG Acqua | 34.5 | 14.8 | 50.7 | 19.7 | 69.9 | 30.1 | 39.8 | |
| 9–10 Jan 2016 | EMG Acqua | 36.1 | 17.9 | 46.0 | 18.2 | 66.8 | 33.2 | 33.6 | |
| Source: Sondaggi Politico Elettorali – Italian Government | |||||||||
Results
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Yes |
|
0.00% |
| No |
|
0.00% |
| Invalid/blank votes |
|
0.00% |
| Total |
|
0.00% |
| Registered voters/turnout |
|
0.00% |
| Source: | ||
References
- ↑ La nuova Costituzione e il nuovo Senato
- ↑ Riforme, lunedì al via 'rush finale': obiettivo referendum
- ↑ Riforme, al Senato scontro tra maggioranza e opposizione per l'emendamento 'canguro'
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Costantino Mortati, interview by Gli Stati, 1973, reported by Stefano Ceccanti - Nuovo Senato atteso da 70 anni? Non è un errore. Rileggere Mortati
- ↑ Renzi: Referendum? Se perdo vado a casa
- ↑ Riforme, Sinistra Italiana: "Renzi vuole trasformare il referendum in un plebiscito su di sé"
- ↑ Renzi assume Jim Messina per risolvere i problemi del Pd (come consigliato dal Foglio mesi fa)
- ↑ Renzi: “Abolizione Senato il 10 giugno”. Riforma Pa: “Beccare fannulloni”
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Gianfranco Pasquino, “Cittadini senza scettro. Le riforme sbagliate”, reviewed by Sabino Cassese, “Le riforme e lo spezzatino”, in Sole 24 ore, DICEMBRE 28, 2015.
- ↑ (Italian) Giampiero Buonomo, La transizione infinita Mondoperaio, n. 2/2016, pp. 88-90.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Confindustria, l'Italia è ripartita ma la ripresa non c'è
- ↑ Perché il referendum non è un plebiscito ma nemmeno un appuntamento neutro
- ↑ Official newspaper of the Democratic Party
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Referendum, costituzione repubblicana o "principato" renziano?
- ↑ Riforme, ddl approvato alla Camera. Comitato per il No al referendum scalda i moto
- ↑ Owned by Silvio Berlusconi's brother
- ↑ Il sondaggio che manda a casa Renzi. Preparo la valigia: ecco i numeri
- ↑ Il Referendum plebiscito
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
