Fistfight erupts in Italian Parliament as tensions rise over expanding regional autonomy
UNB
Publish: 13 Jun 2024, 11:12 PM
ROME,
June 13 (AP/UNB) - Tensions in Italy's lower house erupted into a fistfight,
sending an opposition lawmaker to hospital, over a controversial government
proposal that opponents say will further impoverish the poor south.
Video of the fight
Wednesday shows lawmakers converging on 5-Star Movement lawmaker Leonardo
Donno, who opposes the changes, after he tried to hand an Italian flag to
regional affairs minister Roberto Calderoli. Calderoli, a firebrand lawmaker
from the Lega party with northern roots, drafted the contested expansion of
regional autonomy that would mostly benefit regions like Lega strongholds of
Veneto and Lombardy.
Italian media reported
that Donno was taken to the hospital for evaluation after being hit in the head
and the chest.
Foreign Minister Antonio
Tajani, interviewed on Sky TG24, expressed disappointment at the scene.
"I have no words,''
Tajani said. "We need to set another example, not punches to resolve
political problems. It's not braggadocio, it's not shouting, it's ideas that
need to be explained well to persuade voters."
The proposal would give
additional regions expanded autonomy in specific functions, a move that the
opposition says will further increase the north-south divide in Italy.
Currently, five regions
are granted autonomy, which in part reduces the tax revenue due to the central
government in Rome. They range from Trento-South Tyrol in the north, which is
comprised of the autonomous provinces of Trento and South Tyrol, to Sicily in
the south. The other three are Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the northeast, Aosta in
the northwest, and the island of Sardinia.
End/UNB/AP/HM