Constitutional reform bill not 'locked up' says Casellati

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 5 - The constitutional reform billapproved by the government introducing the direct election ofthe premier by the Italian people is not "locked up" butrequests for changes need to be consistent with the originaltext and not conditioned by prejudice, Reform MinisterElisabetta Casellati said on Sunday.
   "A text can never be said to be 'locked up'", but "the changesrequested must be consistent with the reform we have presented,"said Casellati.
   "And the approach of the oppositions must not be conditioned byprejudices," she added.
   "Since I have always made listening my method, I will certainlybe open to discussing (the bill), just as it can be discussed inParliament, which remains the main place for political debateand democratic confrontation," she added.
   The opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has describedthe reform as "dangerous" on grounds it "weakens parliament andthe prerogatives of the President of the Republic".
   It is "a distortion of the Constitution and theparliamentary Republic", said PD Secretary Elly Schlein.
   "We will use every available dialectical tool in parliament tooppose a project that we consider to be dangerous," shecontinued.
   The government approved the planned Constitutional reform onFriday and Premier Giorgia Meloni afterwards described it in apress conference as the "mother of all reforms".
   Under the current system, parties engage in government-formationtalks after a general election and then the coalition that formsa ruling majority in parliament agrees on a figure to propose tothe President of the Republic to become premier.
   That figure is not necessarily one of the politicians given bythe parties as their premier candidate during the electioncampaign. (ANSA).