«Calderoli finally gave the support, always sought and which we had always stopped, to the madness of the Northern League. The Democratic Party fought a very tough battle in the Commission and in the Senate chamber and for nine months, using democratic rules, we held up these Northern League follies which also involve the vote of those elected here. Today that this provision is in Montecitorio, I read some surreal declarations from the President of the Calabria Region Roberto Occhiuto that go in that direction.”
The leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate said this Francesco Boccia, speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the Regional Directorate of the Calabria Democratic Party in which he participated. «We in the Chamber will fight – added Boccia – to stop this measure, but if even the elected members of the centre-right of the South in Montecitorio obey, I can’t find a better word, the diktats of the League, it is clear that there will be only one path which is that of collecting signatures for a referendum and for an all-out battle in front of the people.”
«Unfortunately all this – Boccia continued – is the subject of a political exchange between the League and the Brothers of Italy. Differentiated autonomy means definitively folding the south and the internal areas. It is madness. And as the vice-president of the CEI and bishop of Cassano allo Ionio said, Monsignor Francesco Savinoit is clear that reference must be made to Don Milani: equal parts cannot be made between unequals because those who are less equal need more help.”
No to an exchange with Northern League autonomy
«The Democratic Party in the Senate has filed more than 800 amendments to the government’s constitutional reform to say no to plebiscitarism, to defend the role of the Head of State and the functions of Parliament which must be strengthened by looking at the German system. The result of an exchange with the autonomy of the Northern League which is played out on the skin of the weakest territories of the country, such as those of the South and Calabria where President Occhiuto, forced to remain silent, is betraying the popular mandate, the right-wing premiership wants to reduce the democracy to the choice of the leader but this is certainly not the way to make our institutional system more effective”. Thus the president of the senators of the Democratic Party Francesco Boccia at a press conference in Vibo Valentia before the regional assembly of the Calabrian Democratic Party.
«The reform of the premiership is evidently imposed by Giorgia Meloni and FDI even within the majority: the divisions that have emerged in recent days bear witness to this, I remember the words of Marcello Pera and the fact that at the moment the amendments announced by the government. The Prime Minister wants to arrive at the European elections waving the flag of the direct election of the Prime Minister but we in the Senate, with the amendments presented, will clearly contrast the choices of the right which evidently lead to the limitation of the powers of the President of the Republic and of Parliament. If the right were in good faith they would go back and discuss with the opposition, changing the whole system. But the right wants the scalp of the premiership, Giorgia Meloni seeks the plebiscite on herself, and we do not accept playing on the skin of our institutions. For us, a reform of the premiership is not possible. They are imposing on us a propaganda banner that wants to resolve the critical issues of our democratic system with authoritarianism and ‘leadership which, instead, design a system that does not exist in any other Western country.”