Acceleration of government, completion of justice reform and greater reduction in the tax burden. These are the three challenges on the internal political front that will mark the activity of the government and the majority during this year with an eye on the next. Cornerstones of the program with which the center-right won the elections in September 2022. Let’s start with the prime minister, the constitutional reform that affects the form of government in our country. The process is long and complex. The project bears the signature of Minister Elisabetta Casellati. The text, before being voted on, will probably undergo several changes. As the president of the Chamber, Lorenzo Fontana, also explained, it will be mainly in Montecitorio that the big changes will be made. It must be taken into account that the approval of laws that amend the Constitution has much longer procedures than ordinary ones and requires larger parliamentary majorities.
Each branch of Parliament will have to vote on the bill twice, at least three months apart. In the second round, an absolute majority will be required in both the Chamber and the Senate. Otherwise we will go to a referendum, an eventuality that Giorgia Meloni – as she had the opportunity to explain – fears nothing. The constitutional reform that introduces the direct election of the Prime Minister, launched by the Council of Ministers on November 3rd, in the government’s intentions guarantees “the right of citizens to decide by whom they should be governed, putting an end to the time of upheaval” and «guarantee that whoever is chosen by the people can govern with a legislative horizon, guaranteeing stability, which is a substantial condition». With these words, at the time, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni presented the proposal, the result of mediation between the ideas that originally held the different souls of the majority. In fact, the reform would introduce a mechanism for direct democratic legitimization of the President of the Council of Ministers, elected by universal suffrage with a specific popular vote that takes place simultaneously with the elections for the Chambers, in the same ballot. Furthermore, it is expected that the Prime Minister will be elected in the Chamber for which he is a candidate and that, in any case, he must necessarily be a parliamentarian.
Then there is justice reform. The biggest innovation, which Keeper of the Seals Carlo Nordio does not intend to give up, is the so-called separation of careers between prosecutors and judges. “The reform is already firmly present in parliamentary work: it is in the Chamber’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, the hearings are over, now we will move on to procedural activity”, explained deputy minister Francesco Paolo Sisto. Without neglecting, however, the functioning of civil justice. As Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani recalled yesterday, there are currently “three million blocked cases that cause 3% damage to GDP”. Finally, there is the chapter on tax pressure. Now, with the start of the new year, the reduction in tax rates came into force (from 4 to 3), with the merger of the first two bands at 23% for all income up to 28 thousand euros per year. The next step will be to reach the middle class. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, the deputy minister of Economy, Maurizio Leo, defined the target until 2025: «If possible, we will go down to two Irpef rates». While the flat tax for workers “remains an objective of the legislator, compatible with available resources”.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
