The final act in the Senate is unfolding amidst controversy and discontent, even within the majority. The government staunchly defends a “prudent” maneuver that it claims has “rewarded” and represents “a value,” according to Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti. The only regret, he adds, is “not being able to do more for families and children.” Tensions are not so much about the content as about the impossibility of adjusting the measure, which arrived shielded at Palazzo Madama a week before the deadline of temporary exercise. The text is then given final approval with a vote of confidence, while protests against the “monocameralism practice” erupt from opposition parties along with that of majority rapporteur Guido Quintino Liris of Brothers of Italy.
Senator Liris symbolically relinquishes control of the measure – only to then adjust his aim in a subsequent statement – in protest against the impossibility of examining the maneuver in both chambers of Parliament. “I hope,” Liris stresses, “that both the Chamber and the Senate can contribute to the next budget law.” Minister Giorgetti echoed this sentiment: “Unfortunately, I don’t know how long this has been the case,” the Treasury Secretary laments. As part of the revision of accounting rules, the issue can be addressed: “The initiative must be parliamentary,” Giorgetti adds. “We have already expressed our willingness.”
The opposition strikes back as Liris’s resignation “represents an extraordinary fact that reflects the state of relations between the government and Parliament and tensions within the majority,” according to Enrico Borghi, Italy’s Alive group leader. “Liris resigns against whom: the government or the majority?” asks Dem group leader Francesco Boccia. The center-left describes the Senate’s lockdown of the text as a “scandal” and a “denigration of the institutions.” “Another symptom of the government’s muscular attitude towards Parliament,” criticized from Italy Alive. Senator Matteo Renzi attacks the Prime Minister, stating, “In 2024, she held fewer press conferences than Putin.” Criticisms of the center-left on the maneuver are also substantive: “The government is doing the opposite of Robin Hood,” says Mariolina Castellone. “A visionless maneuver that does not address the ongoing crises,” adds Tino Magni from AVS.
After the budget law remained in Parliament for two months, the few days of blind examination at Palazzo Madama also raise eyebrows within the majority. Critical voices emerge in the center-right with Lega Senator Claudio Borghi and also Forza Italia’s Dario Damiani. Some even go so far as to say, “At that point, we could have approved the Renzi reform.” Indeed, there is discontent within the center-right, and the risk is that it will spill over into the next measure on the horizon: the omnibus bill. The decree approved in the Council of Ministers on December 9 – which has yet to be published in the Gazette – will start in the Senate due to the alternating mechanism between the chambers. It is on that ground that the majority’s desire for cohesion will be tested when the session resumes, given the diversity of views on issues within, such as the halting of fines for no-vax individuals. Forza Italia has already indicated it will make its voice heard on this matter.
