Lobbying rules, Pagano (FI): 'The time is ripe, we can do it'
A package of six bills for the regulation of interest representation is before the First Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. Adopted as the basic text is AC 2336, first signed by President Nazario Pagano, who is also rapporteur
"Even Europe is pressing for Italy to provide itself with legislation on lobbying: the time is ripe, after the failures of the past". This was said by Nazario Pagano, chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, rapporteur of a package of six bills that for the umpteenth time, after attempts that repeatedly failed in past legislatures, aims to introduce legislation to regulate interest representation in our country as well. Europe, recalls the Forza Italia deputy, "has repeatedly slapped us" under this profile, including in the recent report on the rule of law. Brussels in fact stresses that Italy, on this matter, has no reference legislation, "like Spain and Greece, the other two countries that do not have a law regulating this matter", and for this reason the European pressure has been growing over the years.
This, Pagano explained to Parliament 24, could be the right time to provide Italy with legislation on lobbies and lobbyists, thanks above all to the fact that 'for the first time a fact-finding investigation' was carried out, prior to the tabling of the bills, an investigation 'that saw the participation of leading constitutionalists'. From their in-depth work 'a document was born that was voted on by all' the parties, then transposed into one of the bills in the package under consideration, first signed by Pagano, then adopted by the first committee as the basic text. A background of convergence and sharing that leads Pagano to optimism: 'Maybe we could do it'.
