Reforms on ice, traffic jam of decrees in July

A traffic jam of decrees but also a phase of reflection in view of the future confirmatory referendum on justice have slowed the progress of the two government reforms still on the table: the premiership and the separation of the careers of magistrates. The minister for relations with Parliament, Luca Ciriani, explained the first aspect after the group leaders of the Chamber last Wednesday had ruled out the arrival of the two reforms in the Chamber before the summer break.

A month ago, Ciriani himself, to the previous group leaders called to schedule the work of June-July, had asked to include the premiership in that calendar; as for the separation of careers, now under consideration by the Senate assembly, the most optimistic had thought of a faster process at Palazzo Madama, so as to bring the text to the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber at the beginning of July and to the Chamber before the summer holidays. But the scenario has changed, as the presidents of the parliamentary groups of Montecitorio have established.

The government, therefore, could not help but recall the long list of decrees, seven in all, that will rain down on the Chamber of Deputies in July, clogging it to the point of excluding the arrival of at least one of the two reforms: deferral of terms for damage to the treasury, strategic infrastructures, Campi Flegrei and flooded areas, the decree of the Miur, that of the Ministry of Sport, the fiscal one and the one on the former Ilva. Not to mention government bills that the executive still cares about, such as the one on support for mountain areas or the one on Artificial Intelligence. Even the Minister for Reforms Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati said she hoped that the examination of the premiership in the Constitutional Affairs Committee would be concluded "in the fall".

The two reforms are in two completely different phases of the legislative process. The premiership was approved by the Senate alone and is in its first reading in the Montecitorio committee, still having to deal with the amendment phase. The separation of the careers of the judges has already received the approval of the Chamber and the Senate Constitutional Affairs Committee, which confirmed the Chamber text; and the majority in the Chamber intends to do the same. Therefore, when the bill returns to Montecitorio for a second reading, the process, according to Article 138 of the Constitution, will be rapid: the text cannot be amended and can only be approved or rejected; the same applies to the future second reading of Palazzo Madama. At that point, after the final approval of the reform, the majority will have to face the confirmatory referendum. A decisive political step for the fate of the Meloni government. Speeding up the bill's process or slowing it down a little allows the referendum to be dropped at the desired time, given that it could lead to early elections even in the event of a victory for the yes vote. Hence the confrontation, for now informal, between the political forces on the electoral law which, in the intentions of the majority, will have to be modified independently of the prime minister.