Parliament is sovereign and will decide on a proposal by the League party to scrap the two-term limit for regional governors rejected by a Senate committee, party secretary and deputy premier Matteo Salvini said on Thursday.
After a Senate committee rejected the League’s proposal to scrap the two-term limit for regional governors, Salvini said Parliament would decide.
“The proposal has been rejected at the committee stage and now it will be discussed in the assembly, which is sovereign and the citizens will know how to choose,” said Salvini during an election campaign tour in Sardinia ahead of regional elections on Sunday.
“In my opinion, it is a shame to retire mayors and governors after two terms in office, even if they are very good, highly appreciated and voted for,” he continued. The Senate Constitutional Affairs Committee rejected the amendment presented by his right-wing majority party, with coalition partners Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Forza Italia voting against.
“It is a mistake, because these days finding a good mayor and a good governor is not easy, and if citizens consider them to be good and want to re-elect them, they have the right to do so.
“The League’s position is clear, but we are in a democracy: sometimes our proposals pass and at other times, as in this case, they are rejected because all the others, Forza Italia, FdI, Pd, M5S are against,” continued Salvini.
“In my opinion this is a mistake,” he added. “There will be no problem in the majority if the law on the third term of office does not pass in parliament,” said Salvini.
Conference of Regions wants discussion on two-term limit
Separately on Thursday the Conference of Regions, the forum for interregional institutional dialogue, sent a letter to Regional Affairs Minister Roberto Calderoli requesting a meeting on the issue.
The Conference, composed of Italy’s 21 regions and autonomous provinces, has repeatedly spoken out in favour of scrapping the limit on terms in office, most recently in December.
Meanwhile Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti, whose second term in office ends in 2025, said there is a “gigantic political short-circuit” on the issue.
“Lawmakers who are opposed to additional terms of office for governors and mayors have sometimes been sitting in parliament since the 1980s and 1990s, so a sort of geological era ago,” said Toti.
“This happens in a Republic where there is no limit for the premier and for ministers and where the government is discussing the direct election of the prime minister,” he added
No issue within ruling majority
Premier Giorgia Meloni denied that the divisions over the League party’s proposal create an issue for the government or the ruling majority.
“The third term was not included in the (government) programme, it is not an initiative of government but rather a parliamentary initiative and there have been differences of opinion in the utmost serenity,” Meloni said in a recorded interview for the current affairs programme ‘5 minutes’ on Rai1.
“It is not a matter that in any way creates problems for the government or the majority,” she added.
