On November 3, 2023, the Council of Ministers of the Meloni government approved the constitutional revision project which aims to rprofoundly shape the institutional structure of the State. The text has changed from the original wording. Currently, Meloni's reform introduces direct election of the Prime Ministerand gives him the power to dissolve the Chambers.
The President of the Republic can only grant a mandate to a parliamentarian from the same coalition in the cases of death, resignation or permanent incapacity of the outgoing Prime Minister. In all other cases of government crisis, we will go to the polls. The majority premium will be fixed by law and will have no reference in the Constitution.
You too can rediscover the pleasure of staying informed!
Your support helps protect our independence so that we can continue to produce quality journalism that is open to all.
Support us
Pros and cons of Meloni's tenure
Meloni's mandate, according to his promoters, this would put the will of the electorate back at the center. To date, no Italian government has reached the end of its legislature. The majority bonus and the mechanism for dissolving the chambers would provide greater stability to governments elected by the people. The bill closes the possibility of an interim government, since in the event of a crisis the President of the Republic cannot appoint a personality outside the majority parliamentarians, therefore not elected. The reform would not undermine the powers of the President of the Republic, as his detractors feared, but would simply give greater prerogatives to the Prime Minister.
Critics leveled at the reform argue that, as formulated, Meloni's reform does not guarantee the desired stability of majorities. The new parliamentary confidence mechanism presents several problems in this regard. The form of Meloni's mandate would be too rigid. Restricting the mandate to a parliamentarian from the same party would crystallize the political orientation of the government, making the formation of a new majority more difficult and the need for new elections greater.
The reform would lack details regarding institutional procedures, and the threshold for a majority decision, which has already been declared unconstitutional by several judgments of the Court on previous proposals, has not been indicated.
Meloni reform reopens debate on Italian form of government
Proponents of Meloni's reform cite as an example the “Westminster model”, i.e. the British parliamentary system in which the Prime Minister has the power to dissolve houses. It also provides for the resignation of the government in the event of defeat in parliamentary votes. However, the Prime Minister is not directly elected either in this regime or in other democratic regimes. Furthermore, the English system grants great centrality to Parliament and accentuates the deliberative role and, in theory, the absence of ideological constraints of its members. Finally, bipartisanship gives stability to governments and guarantees the principle of alternation.
Otherwise, say the critical voices, we could look at the model of the German chancellery, reforming the institution of the parliamentary trust. In fact, the German system provides for “constructive censure”, that is to say the power of Parliament to pass a motion of censure in respect of the government only if it is already able to provide the names of a new government. In Germany, this situation has only occurred once, in 1982.
However, most Italian governments fell due to internal problems within the majority coalitions. Interventions should therefore take the form of the electoral law and/or the too fragmented Italian party system, which almost obliges the formation of coalitions too large to remain stable.
Critics and supporters alike agree on the need for reform of the Italian institutional structure, and Meloni's mandate reopens the debate on the issue. The government's proposal is complex, the parliamentary process is still long and the history of constitutional reforms is strewn with failures. The text of the reform still has a lot of time to be amended and perfected.
