The proposed introduction of the
direct election of the premier set out in a constitutional
reform bill approved by the government is "the mother of all
reforms", Premier Giorgia Meloni said on Friday.
"In the last 75 years of Republican history we have had 68
governments with an average life span of one and a half years,"
Meloni told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
"This is the mother of all the reforms that can be made in
Italy, because if we take a step back and look at the last 20
years there have been 12 prime ministers," she added.
Meloni said the proposed constitutional reform "guarantees two
objectives that we have been committed to from the beginning:
the right of citizens to decide who governs them, putting an end
to power games and technocrat governments" or ones that "go over
the heads of citizens", and the guarantee "that those chosen by
the people govern" with "stability".
Under the current system, parties engage in government-formation
talks after a general election and then the coalition that forms
a ruling majority in parliament agrees on a figure to propose to
the head of State to become premier.
That figure is not necessarily one of the politicians given by
the parties as their premier candidate during the election
campaign.
"When governments go home after one and a half years there is a
weakness," continued the premier, adding that "precisely because
we are stable and strong we have a responsibility to seize this
opportunity and leave this nation with something that can solve
its structural problems".
"The absence of stability has created a problem of international
credibility in our interlocutions," said Meloni.
She also insisted that the reform would in no way deprive the
head of state of his prerogatives.
"The role of the President of the Republic is one of absolute
guarantee and we have decided not to touch his competences,
except for the appointment of the prime minister", who would be
elected, she said.
The reform bill, continued Meloni, brings together "the
suggestions gathered during discussions with both the majority
and the opposition, as well as with civil society".
It is a measure that will hopefully "meet with the broadest
possible consensus" and that the government "does not want to
impose", she said..
The constitutional reform bill was discussed with the office of
the president of the republic, Meloni said.
"There was a conversation with the President of the Republic and
with his office, as always happens with important measures of
this kind," Meloni told reporters.
The prime minister elected by citizens under the proposed reform
would "always have to respect the programme of government for
which they were elected, added Meloni.
Also on Friday, Meloni's diplomatic advisor Francesco Maria Talò
resigned over a recent prank call from two Russian comics posing
as an African leader in which the premier spoke of Ukraine war
fatigue and said a way out of the conflict was needed soon.
Meloni said the incident had highlighted "superficiality" on the
part of her diplomatic office.
"The call was dealt with carelessly, and exposed the nation,"
she said.
Meloni has been publicly staunch in her defence of Kyiv's
refusal to negotiate with Moscow until the Russian aggressor is
driven from all its lands including Crimea.
The phone call was "Kremlin propaganda", the premier said.
"The phone call was first of all relayed by programmes organic
to Kremlin propaganda and this should make those who are acting
as megaphones for these comedians think again, who said they had
no ties to the Kremlin," said Meloni at the press conference on
premiership reforms.
Meloni recalled that she has already said that in Italy there
are those who, in order to attack her, are willing to attack
Italy as a result.
"It is obvious that if things were like this, that is, that we
were the objects of disinformation because of the positions we
have at an international level and that there are those in Italy
who lend themselves to being a sounding board for them on
purpose, I would be sorry", she said.
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