“A constitutional reform to be done in one year: voting for sixteen year olds”. Former Prime Minister Enrico Letta asks this in an interview with Repubblica. “I had already put it forward two years ago. Now I say that it is urgent, and that with this majority it can be done. It is a way to say to those young people we photographed in the squares, praising their slogans and their enthusiasm: we take you seriously and we recognize that there is a problem of underrepresentation of your ideas, of your interests”, he adds, “when you govern in a coalition, things must be done together. This is one of the issues on which the Democratic Party's ability to demonstrate leadership and at the same time respect its allies is at stake. The time is now, don't wait to get more." On the end of life, Letta emphasizes, "the Court's ruling requires Parliament to take charge of this issue, involving everyone, taking into account the complexities, but following the direction indicated by the judges". As for the reduction in the number of parliamentarians, he states: “I think that the reduction is a positive thing and that the Democratic Party should live it with greater serenity, even if I shouldn’t use this term”. We need a new electoral law that gives minorities the right to speak. Not an English or French majoritarian. The right one is the Mattarellum, the colleges with a proportional quota. I would add constructive distrust: a government falls because another one is ready, otherwise we go to the vote. And in my opinion, legislatures should be shorter, three or four years." “The Democratic Party can never fall into the same trap as the M5S because it is made up of people, sections, and militant parties, whose personal freedom can never be questioned. Just as the absence of a binding mandate cannot be questioned. In this, the Democratic mission must be to contaminate the 5 Star Movement, trying to make them abandon this sense of ownership of the elected officials,” says Letta, “but we must recognize the innovative charge of some of their mechanisms. We need to improve ourselves and improve them, but I don't believe in a merger with the Democratic Party." As for trust in Prime Minister Conte, “I trust – he concludes – that doing well with this government is in his interest, he doesn’t have a third time to play. And perhaps the past year has served as an apprenticeship for him. He understood that Salvini was leading the country to crash. Now we need to speed up the green new deal, combine it with the fight against inequalities, not allow Minister Costa to put his face on an empty text. Maybe wait, but do the climate change decree well, in agreement with Brussels. I also agree with the fight against cash: enough with the ball of old ladies who don't know how to go to the ATM. And I give Conte and Di Maio a piece of advice: tomorrow, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is arriving. Let them make their voices heard. Trump's slap on the tariffs on our agri-food sector is very serious and deserves an adequate response". “Voting at sixteen is a proposal that we have always supported and that we strongly support. Young people in Italy are defined, depending on the moment, as choosy, spoiled, 'gretini': for us these young people must above all be respected, listened to and put at the centre of our politics. They are a precious resource and are the future of an Italy that is informed, that participates and that must be valued more and more. If at 16 a young person can work and pay taxes, he should at least have the right to vote and choose who decides about his life." Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote this on Facebook. “In some countries, voting at 16 is already a requirement: in Scotland, Austria, some German Länder, Argentina and Brazil for example. Let's discuss it immediately in Parliament, because these are the constitutional reforms that change the prospects of a country and that spur us to always do better. We are here and we think that those who fear the vote of the youngest, perhaps know that they have betrayed them in the past, with political choices that have created poverty, lack of opportunities, damage to the environment that today the youngest are defending. Now is the time to give this right to those who have a better future ahead of them,” he added.
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