Toti investigation, from FdI to the PD: now bipartisan push to clamp down on private party funding

Bipartisan push in Parliament for a clampdown on private party funding. The implications of the Genovese inquiry, in fact, bring to the surface a subject that has been addressed by politicians on several occasions and to which they have tried to give answers. In fact, after the definitive abolition of public financing for parties, what remained, in addition to the 2xmille, are the so-called liberal donations that - as things stand - do not exclude those who commission public works from financing private parties.

This is what Carlo Calenda calls a 'bug' on which - he stresses - Parliament should intervene. And there are also those who - like the leader of the Fratelli d'Italia group in the Chamber of Deputies, Tommaso Foti - emphasise that at this point there is a need to reflect in full on this funding: 'If it is interpreted as forbidden in the territories, then it is better to remove it once and for all because it then becomes difficult to understand the relationships. It is a reflection that must be made in relation to the limit that is there'.

Also wishing to intervene on private financing to political forces is the PD, which has filed a bill in the Senate under the first signature of Andrea Giorgis. The text proposes - among other things - a limitation on private financing, including a lowering of the 100,000 euro ceiling to 50,000. It also envisages a review of the 2xmille by adding the inoptato to the Irpef quota that one can decide to allocate to parties. 'We had a first round of hearings, then Autonomy and the Premierate arrived and we could not continue with the examination,' explained Giorgis. 'I believe that after the European elections this discussion can start again, indeed I hope so. I hope that the debate will resume and that the awareness that investing in democracy means investing in the development of the country will be shared'.

A bill by Fratelli d'Italia with the first signature of Senator Andrea De Priamo has also been coupled to the text, which, however, concerns more specifically the rules on the transparency of parties and their internal democracy. But it is in the context of this discussion that could fall - majority sources explain - a reflection on the possible stakes to be provided for liberal donations. 'I read that they are considered bribes,' stresses the leader of Noi Moderati Maurizio Lupi, 'lawful financing made according to the law during election campaigns for the election of a regional president or mayor. I am astonished. So, make up your mind: either the parties are financed by the State, but a law has forbidden it, or they are financed by private individuals who must comply with the rules that the laws provide for'.