Referendum, the “subversive” appeal of the President of the Senate La Russa: “I will make propaganda so that people stay at home”

The call for abstention from the majority parties for the upcoming referendum on work and citizenship on 8 and 9 June had come loud and clear, already provoking bitter controversy and criticism from the opposition benches and in particular from the Democratic Party, which through the secretariat Elly Schlein has "put its hat" on the questions proposed by the Cgil.

But the fact that the call to abstention also came from the second highest office of the State appeared to be a much more serious wound. Ignazio La Russa , co-founder of Fratelli d'Italia, during the “Spazio Cultura” meeting taking place on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 May in Florence and organized by FdI, said it as usual without mincing words: “I continue to say that I think about it, but of one thing I am sure: I will do propaganda so that people stay at home ”.

La Russa is thus following the very clear appeals of the deputy prime minister and leader of Forza Italia Antonio Tajani , the most direct in the executive in asking his electorate to sabotage the referendum by abstaining, while Fratelli d'Italia, the party of prime minister Giorgia Meloni and La Russa himself, has until now expressed more nuanced positions on the referendum question.

But it is precisely the role of La Russa, the second highest office in the state that openly calls for abstention, that triggers furious reactions. "It has never happened that the second highest office in the state made an appeal of this type. On the day in which we mourn the death of Aldo Moro and Peppino Impastato, two martyrs of democracy. We are faced with an attitude that I do not hesitate to define as subversive ", is the accusation that comes from the PD group leader in the Labor Commission in the Chamber, Arturo Scotto . The resignation of the president of the Senate is also requested by the AVS deputy Angelo Bonelli and by Riccardo Magi of +Europa.