End-of-life care: the government challenges the Veneto region’s law; Salvini abstains from voting in the Council of Ministers. Lega member Altieri appointed chair of ANAC

“I fully respect the decision taken today by the Council of Ministers to challenge the Veneto region’s law on end-of-life care. It is a constitutional prerogative of the Government, which has the right to refer a matter to the Constitutional Court when it considers that a regional law may be unconstitutional. It is, moreover, entirely legitimate that the League’s representatives on the Council of Ministers did not take part in the vote. Personally, I wholeheartedly stand by the decision taken by the Veneto Regional Council, which I personally supported and voted for,” stated Zaia following the government’s decision to challenge the law. The hope now is that “this new constitutional development will also serve as an incentive for Parliament to finally address the issue, without further delay”.

Alberto Stefani, President of the Veneto Region, also commented on the decision, expressing his conviction that ‘from a legal point of view’ the law passed by the Veneto Regional Council ‘will stand up to scrutiny by the Constitutional Court’ because ‘it is substantially different from those approved in other regions and which have been the subject of requests for amendments by the Constitutional Court. The amendments approved in the spirit of ‘favor vitae’ demonstrate this’. In fact, it was the amendments tabled by the majority – ten of which were signed by Stefani himself – that made it possible to reach a cross-party agreement in Veneto. In particular, the amendments provided for the introduction of a strengthened opinion from the palliative care specialist, the establishment of a regional bioethics committee appointed by the Regional Executive, priority for palliative care for those who request it, and the obligation to provide adequate information on the possibility of accessing such care to patients wishing to undergo assisted suicide.

In the Veneto Regional Council, the centre-right had split, with the Lega in favour (11 out of 14 councillors voted ‘yes’) in an unprecedented alliance with the centre-left opposition, whilst Fratelli d’Italia stood united against the bill (whilst the Forza Italia councillors were split, with two abstentions and one vote in favour). The citizens’ initiative bill was passed on 2 September with 32 votes in favour, 4 abstentions and 14 against.

The Council of Ministers has also appointed the League member Trifone Altieri, known as Nuccio, as the new president of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, replacing the outgoing Giuseppe Busia. Altieri, who previously headed the defence department of Matteo Salvini’s party, was appointed to the board of directors of Leonardo last spring. In accordance with the legal procedure, Altieri’s appointment as president of ANAC was proposed by the Minister for Public Administration, Paolo Zangrillo. Following the initiation of the procedure by the Council of Ministers, the proposal will be referred to Parliament for the mandatory opinion of the relevant parliamentary committees, and will then return to the Council of Ministers before the appointment is finalised by a Decree of the President of the Republic.

The government has finally appointed Giulio Centemero, MP and leader of the Lega group on the Chamber of Deputies’ Finance Committee, as Commissioner of Consob. The appointment was also approved by the Council of Ministers.