Referendum, the odds for the 22 March date rise. Fi assumes half a million euro campaign for the yes vote

From Monday's Council of Ministers the date of the referendum on justice reform could emerge. Various hypotheses are being considered, including that of 22 March, as government sources explain, pointing out that 'the law requires the executive to decide by 17 January'. The rule referred to is Article 15 of Law No. 352 of 1970, according to which the referendum must be called within 60 days from the communication of the order of the Central Referendum Office, of the Court of Cassation, which admitted the referendum requests (on 18 November). The same rule provides that the referendum is to be held on a Sunday between the 50th and 70th day after the decree calling it.

Forza Italia meanwhile is ready to put its face to it and aims at a massive referendum campaign on justice, also in economic terms, and capillary, rooted in the territory. This morning, according to Adnkronos, at the national headquarters in Via in Lucina, Antonio Tajani chaired a meeting with the Azzurri leaders to take stock of the situation after the Christmas holidays. Among those present were the vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies and coordinator of the 'yes' party, Giorgio Mulè, MPs Enrico Costa and Pierantonio Zanettin, and the undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council with responsibility for publishing, Alberto Barachini. The meeting, they said, would have been mainly of an operational nature, to decide the referendum strategy with a sort of road map, made up of debates and initiatives, especially local ones. A real general mobilisation, more concentrated in the last 15-20 days, in view of the final rush at the end of March (the government has not yet decided the date of the vote, but it could be the 22nd or 29th). The organisational machine has started, at least fifty events are planned at the end of the month in all the regions, assures a blue bigwig present at the meeting. The political objective is to give the sense of a battle, which belongs to the history of Fi and its founder Silvio Berlusconi, in the sign of continuity. A battle that has now come to fruition following Parliament's approval of the reform on the separation of careers, which only awaits the Italians' approval with the confirmatory referendum. Demonstrating that the party is serious, Fi has also decided to make an economic effort of a certain size. The amount to be invested in the referendum campaign has not been quantified. There are those who claim that for effective 'propaganda' a budget of between 800 thousand and 1 million euro would be needed, but there are those who bet that in the end up to 500-600 thousand euro could be put on the table. At today's meeting, they report, there was talk of precisely how to find the resources to finance the 'yes' vote. The idea would be to use first of all the party's funds, drawing from the treasury of Fi's membership, which closed last December with about 250,000 members, as Tajani has announced several times. An income for the coffers, according to the latest calculations, of more than EUR 2 million.

"If the government wants to disregard a constant practice in republican history, we will invite it to justify itself in all appropriate fora. In the four previous ones, the decree fixing the referendum has always been issued at the end of the three months allowed for the collection of signatures'. Thus the spokesman of the committee promoting the collection of popular signatures for the referendum on Justice, Carlo Guglielmi, when questioned by Ansa on the hypothesis of a decision on the date of the referendum at the next meeting of the Prime Minister's Office. 'We are respectful towards everyone,' he added, 'but if others become disrespectful towards citizens' participation then we will react. Our task is to ensure that the 280,000 signatures collected so far are not thrown in the bucket. We will do everything the law allows to prevent this. Are you also ready to challenge the decision at the Constitutional Court? "I repeat that we are ready to appeal in all fora. We are ready to do everything that the system of checks and balances provided by the Constitution of the Republic allows us to do."