Italy's cabinet approves draft bill on crucial Senate reform

The Italian cabinet approved a constitutional reform draft bill on Monday to turn the Senate into a smaller and non-elected assembly.

The draft bill focused on depriving the upper house of its current law-making equal status with the lower house, or the Chamber of Deputies, in order to make legislative proceedings easier and faster, and reduce the costs of the country's huge political apparatus.

If approved, the reform would put an end to Italy's 'perfect bicameralism', which gives both chambers in Parliament equal powers and duties. As such, the system has been blamed for slowing down the decision-making process.

"This is a decisive turning point. With this reform, we put and end to a 30-year long debate about the bicameral system," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said during the press conference after the cabinet's meeting.

According to the draft bill, the 315-member upper house would be stripped of the power to approve budget and hold no-confidence votes on cabinet.

It would become a non-elected entity comprised of 148 between mayors, regional governors and other representatives from the regions, and 21 representatives chosen by the president of the Republic from civil society.

The new assembly would be called "Senate of Autonomies", and its legislative powers would be limited to issues related to local and regional affairs.

"Italian municipalities and regions will be equally represented in it," minister for the Constitutional Reforms Maria Elena Boschi explained.

The new chamber, however, would keep equal status with the lower house in voting on constitutional amendments and in the election of the president of the Republic.

It would also be allowed to propose amendments on bills, within 30 days from their discussion, but final approving would belong to the lower house only.

The members of this new assembly would not be paid any extra-salary, allowing the State to have considerable savings.

Together with the abolition of the provinces, also included in the draft bill, the cuts in senators' salaries and benefits would be worth around one billion euros (1.38 billion U.S. dollars) per year, Italian media estimated.

Even more relevant, according to the cabinet and the reform's supporters, would be the political effects. The demotion of the Senate would in fact couple with an electoral reform, which was passed by the lower house on March 12, and is yet to be approved by senators.

Both reforms were seen as crucial in order to introduce more stability in a country chronically plagued by shaky parliamentary majorities and frail cabinets.

Renzi gave great prominence to the draft bill. He took office in February promising major overhauls of politics and economy, and declared constitutional reforms were the core issue of his mandate.

On Sunday, he even threatened to resign if the Senate reform was impeded.

"This is the most important battle, also from an economic perspective," Renzi said at the press conference on Monday. "If interest from abroad and confidence in our country are slowly increasing again, it is because it seems that things can really be changed. This opportunity cannot be missed."

Yet, the reform of the Senate would require amending the Constitution through a complicate process that entails two readings in each house of the Parliament, and a two-third majority in the second of these passages.

Several analysts warned the reform should not be taken "for granted" before final approval, given both the complexity of the procedure and the fact that prominent political and intellectual figures have spoken against it.

Speaker of the Senate Piero Grasso, former national anti-mafia prosecutor, made a counter proposal for reducing the Senate to a regional chamber but keeping elected representatives in it.

Even more critical was Gustavo Zagrebelsky, a most distinguished Italian constitutionalist, who expressed fears that demoting one chamber of the parliament might pave the way to an authoritarian system.

Meanwhile, on Monday evening, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano commented positively on the cabinet's move.

"It is known the president has long expressed his belief that a solution to perfect bicameralism is needed," a presidential statement noted.