Senate at risk of paralysis after the cut-off of those elected? Between short weeks and multiple assignments for the usual suspects, this is what senators work (today). And what will change with the referendum

Contaminate the public debate on parliamentary court It is not just the (wrong) calculation of the relationship between number of elected representatives and inhabitants that we will have in Italy in case of victory of the Yes. One of the arguments repeatedly supported by politicians and constitutionalists against the referendum refers to the assumption “risk of paralysis”For the Senate. In an editorial about Republic, the historical exponent of dem Luciano Violante (already defender of one drought constitutional reform never approved) maintains that “reducing the number of senators from 315 to 200, in the absence of other reforms” of the Charter or regulation “penalizes decision making system and undermines the legitimacy of Parliament ”. In his opinion, the enormous amount of assignments belonging to those who sit in Palazzo Madama will prevent them from “keeping up” with the work of the House. In fact, in the current legislature alone there are more than 740 armchairs be busy (with attachments tolerance, if applicable), between permanent committees, investigation and control committees, international committees and bodies, presidencies, secretariats, etc. But look at how they are distributed to understand that most of it is concentrated in the hands of Big party or of those who have made politics their profession, while others keep the crumbs.

The office division – Among the Democrats to whom the record belongs Valeria Fedeli. The former Minister of Education is the only one on her side to cover six assignments: he is a member of the permanent commission of public works, of the extraordinary ones for human rights and for him contrast with hate, is a member of the RAI Supervisory Board, the Schengen Parliamentary Committee and the commission of inquiry into the events that occurred in the “Il Forteto” community. Senators like Bruno astorre me Mauro laus, on the other hand, they only hold one position. The situation is almost the same in all the larger parties (while in the smaller ones, multiple publication is inevitably more frequent). Forza Italia’s record men are Lucio malan (6 seats, including coveted regulatory and immunity councils) and Fiammetta Modena (always six), before colleagues like Adriano Galliani me Niccolò Ghedini whose presence in Rome is reduced to bones. In the Pillon League, Riccardi and Urraro can have five places each, but the scepter belongs to the six of Emanuele Pellegrini. Among the 5 stars they are undefeated Alessandra maiorino (five and Sabrina ricciardi (five, plus the role of alternate member of the Litigation Commission).

Equity in role assignment and short week stop – It would be enough to distribute dispatches more evenly, therefore, to avoid some senators being more stressed than others. Today they would have a maximum of three, while in the event of voting in favor at the polls the limit would be raised to four (although an exception to the prohibition to attend several permanent Commissions is necessary). Not to mention that by tradition the work in the Senate begins Tuesday and end in Thursday late. This is demonstrated by the record of sessions of many commissions: the last meeting on Monday at the Justice Center dates back to november 2019while senators dealing with health have not seen earlier in the week at least since last December. Friday meetings practically not received: in 2020 there is only a trace of a Table of the Constitutional Affairs Commission scheduled for June 5 and a Constitutional Affairs Plenary that dates from June 26. The calendar was designed in this way to allow the elect to reconnect with the territory over the weekend, even if this bond has grown increasingly weaker with the abolition of preferences and changes to the electoral law. If, on the contrary, parliamentary activities were spread throughout the week, there would be no risk of overlapping commitments repeatedly feared by supporters of No.

Changes in regulations: hypotheses on the ground – In any case, the orientation of Pd and 5-star Movement is to modify the parliamentary regulations introduce some corrections, a condition that the secretary of the dem Nicola Zingaretti considers it fundamental for the yes of his party and to simplify the work of the senators. The contents are anticipated by the president of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the Senate. Dario Parrini. “To avoid any failure” in the system, she explains to the press, “a few simple things are enough. settings regulations. There are already some hypotheses in the field, however, susceptible to further investigation: standing committees without any harm could for example decrease from 14 to 10. Without risk, the number of members of the Board for Regulation, the Board for Elections and the ‘permanent’ bicameral chambers (regional issues, fiscal federalism, Rai surveillance and others) can decrease. Many bodies, in fact, today are made up of 25 senators (to which 25 deputies are added in the case of bicameral). A figure that can be reduced without penalizing minorities. According to most, the other nodes to solve are the quorum necessary to form political groups in Palazzo Madama (today they need 10 subscribers) and possibly the quorum of chosen expected in some circumstances.

Expert opinion – All the solutions that do not convince the more than 200 experts who signed the “call for No”. In his opinion, “the linear cut produced by the review affects the representativeness of the Chambers and generates problems for the functioning of the state apparatus“. The dem believe it too Luigi zanda, according to which “to reform the regulation we need vast majorities, very difficult to find. But above all, we must act immediately, without wasting time, so that in the next legislature the Senate is immediately in a position to work. Otherwise we would condemn him to paralysis“. The director of the newspaper founded by Eugenio Scalfari, Maurizio Molinari, goes even further: “Reducing parliamentarians without reviewing the functions of Parliament, starting with the number and role of committees, means activating a domino problem and stagnation of unpredictable results“.

All opinions not shared by the former president of the Council Valerio Onida. The Italian system, he declared in recent days, “will not work any worse, in fact it could work better if we understand this. chance address many aspects of parliamentary regulations and practices. Today the Chambers It does not function very well, with debates often repetitive in which, instead of talking and discussing the merits of the proposals, we mainly dedicate ourselves to discussing with our opponents ”. The point is that “the supposed negative consequences of the reform that are shaking today do not seem such to me. Not that of the need to concentrate the work of the Chambers in a smaller number of commissions or that the same parliamentarians work in more commissions ”. And even “without corrective measures,” he adds, “a 200-member Senate can work very good“.