On Wednesday, the Lower House approved the government’s bill for ‘differentiated autonomy’ after an all-night parliamentary session. The controversial measure passed with 172 votes in favour, 99 against, and one abstention.
The new law allows regions to request greater control over the spending of tax revenues collected in their areas. Opposition parties argue that this will exacerbate the divide between north and south Italy.
This is one of several reforms from Premier Giorgia Meloni’s administration that are facing strong opposition. Another contentious reform, which proposes the direct election of the premier by the Italian people, cleared its first hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday and has moved to the House for further consideration.
Meloni argues that this reform will enhance democracy and stability, but critics fear it could pave the way for authoritarianism.
In response to these reforms, most Italian opposition parties held a rally in Rome on Tuesday to “defend national unity” and protest against what they claim are “violence and intimidation” tactics by the ruling coalition. This follows an incident where a 5-Star Movement (M5S) MP required medical attention after a brawl in the House last week.
Opposition Protest
Italian Left leader Nicola Fratoianni, of the AVS, said ahead of the anti-reform and anti-intimidation rally, “To the institutional violence of the Right, to the Split-Italy reform and the full powers of the premiership, we respond with our bodies, our voices, our smiles.
“The true face of the country, that which does not give in and which resists this dangerous right”.
As the rally got under way the crowd in Piazza Santissimi Apostoli chanted the partisan resistance song Bella Ciao.
Protestors held up placards calling Meloni and her supporters “fascists”. They alluded to a TV investigative report showing members of her party Brothers of Italy’s youth wing hailing Mussolini and neofascist terrorists and chanting Duce and Sieg Heil.
