ITALY: Vote On Civil Unions Bill Postponed

One of Italy’s far right parties has proposed thousands of amendments in an attempt to destroy the civil unions bill. The vote on the bill was yesterday postponed until Tuesday. ANSA reports:

A conference of Senate whips on Wednesday postponed voting on the government’s hotly contested civil unions bill to next Tuesday. Earlier, the Senate rejected a motion to not vote on the the bill article by article.

If that motion had passed, it would effectively halt debate of the bill that would extend to gay couples many of the rights and protections heterosexual spouses enjoy. The motion was rejected by 195 lawmakers, with 101 voting in favor and one abstaining. It was filed by former center-right reforms minister Gaetano Quagliariello, founder of a New Center Right (NCD) splinter party called Identity and Action (IDEA).

Also on Wednesday, the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the opposition rightwing Northern League (LN) met to discuss a deal to cut amendments to the bill, but both sides came up empty. The League said last week it would cut 4,500 of its amendments, leaving about 500 of them, in a deal with the PD which envisaged the withdrawal of PD’s two so-called ‘kangaroo’ amendments that cancel out all similar amendments. The PD called Wednesday’s meeting “not constructive” while LN Senator Roberto Calderoli said it was a “work in progress”.

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