Rome, 4 July 2024 – Ok today in Regional Council of Laziochaired by Antonio Aurigemma, with 23 votes in favor and 11 against, to the regional law proposal n. 117 of 29 November 2023, first signatory councilor Eleonora Berni, concerning: “Establishment of the Regional Women’s Council for Equal Opportunities. Repeal of the regional law of 25 November 1976, n. 58 (Establishment of the Regional Women’s Council for Equal Opportunities) and subsequent amendments”. In this way, a body is reinstated, with a term of office of five years and its headquarters at the Regional Council, which, as can be seen from the title of the law approved today, already existed, but since 2015, as Councilor Berni recalled in her introductory report, had ceased to be operational.
“With this measure we want to give it back strength through a significant financial endowment to allow it to carry out functions that have never been as important as in this period” continued the councilor of Fratelli d’Italia. “A quarter of cases of harassment at work involve young women; it is right that this initiative comes from the Regional Council in which women are most represented as well as from a party that brought a woman to the presidency of the Council of Ministers for the first time” added Berni, who then thanked Eleonora Mattia of the Democratic Party for her contribution and he addressed a thought to Valentina Paterna, the councilor who recently passed away.
Oppositions against, here’s why
However, the opposition voted against it, with Marta Bonafoni of the Democratic Party is very critical of the direction taken by the work starting from the rejection of some amendments to the article 2, the one on the composition of the Consulta, which tended to avoid that the members of the Consulta appointed by the President of the Region (5, in addition to the ten elected by the Regional Council from a list of candidates drawn up by the associations) could be of male sex. Also Adriano Zuccalà of the 5 Star Movement he said he was surprised by the progress of the work and announced that the Movement could not vote in favour of this law; Emanuela Droghei of the Democratic Party she also announced her vote against the proposed law, which she sees as yet another example of the lack of sensitivity of this majority towards the issue of women’s rights.
The majority opinion
The representatives of the majority are on a different wavelength Marco Colarossi of Forza Italia, who said he did not understand the criticism and spoke of the opposition’s “demonization of man”e Maria Chiara Iannarelli of Brothers of Italy, who called for collaboration on these issues, from which alone steps forward can arise, because the male contribution to the fight for women’s rights is also decisive.
The law has ten articles, of which the first has undergone three amendments and the second as many as 8.; four proposed amendments were approved for article 4, the one on the functions of the Consulta, one each for articles 6 and 9: the latter concerns the financial allocation, which the amendment presented by the Councilor for the Budget Giancarlo Righini brought to a minimum sum of 100 thousand euros per year to be taken from other financial allocations for different regulations. The other articles and the title were approved without amendments.
Previously, the Lazio Regional Council had also approved its General Budget for the 2023 financial year (proposed council resolution no. 27 of 13 June 2024, on the initiative of the Prime Minister, in implementation of the resolution of the Presidency Office of 6 June 2024, no. U00093), which recorded an available surplus of €9,141,798.22.
Marotta’s comment (Avs)
“After what happened last March with the regional law on the family factor, this time too the majority so dear to President Rocca approves another law, the one that modifies the Regional Women’s Council for Equal Opportunities, with only 23 votes in favour, thus not guaranteeing the quorum and thanks to the votes of the minorityThe only justified absentee was President Rocca, a testimony to the comatose state in which the Council finds itself, now at a standstill for too long and with many measures still to be discussed. Moreover, the law approved with the presence of men within the Women’s Council seems to me to go absolutely in the wrong direction, it humiliates women and distorts the meaning of the constitution of an institution called to pronounce and work on equal opportunities.. Once again after the issue of abortion, even in the Regional Council there is no full respect for the figure of women”. This was communicated in a note by the Group Leader of the Green and Left Alliance, Claudio Marotta. (Photo: consiglio.regione.lazio.it)
