The Italian government is ready to open negotiations with Lombardy and Veneto after the two wealthy regions voted overwhelmingly for greater autonomy, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Tuesday.

Unlike a recent referendum on independence in Catalonia, which sparked a political crisis in Spain, the Italian votes this weekend were legal, but not binding on Rome.

Making clear he had no intention of making a drama out of the twin ballots, Gentiloni said he was ready to discuss how Lombardy and Veneto wanted to proceed.

“Here we are talking about how to make Italy work better. We are not calling into question Italy and its unity,” Gentiloni said during a visit to an oil refinery close to Venice, the capital of the northeastern Veneto region.

“The government is ready to look into the merits of this … it will be a complex discussion that can’t be done in five minutes,” he added.

Regional governments have the right to ask for greater oversight in 23 policy areas, including the environment, infrastructure, health and education.

The most delicate negotiations are likely to be over tax returns, with Veneto demanding that it be allowed to spend 90 percent of all the taxes raised on its own territory.

Among Italy’s 20 regions, Lombardy and Veneto account for just under a third of its economic output and are home to around 25 percent of its population.

Italy’s poorer, less developed southern regions are worried that they will receive less funding in future if Lombardy and Veneto get to keep more of their own tax take.

Five regions in Italy — the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and three relatively small border areas with linguistic minorities — already have special autonomous status under the constitution. Veneto wants to join them.

However, this would need a change to the constitution, which the government seems unwilling to accept.

“We are ready (to grant greater powers) within the limits fixed by our laws and by our constitution,” Gentiloni said.

Negotiations are likely to take many months and look certain to be interrupted by national elections due by next May. Any deal between the government and the regions will have to be approved by parliament.

The latest opinion polls suggest a hung parliament will emerge from the forthcoming election, making it impossible to predict the government formation that will carry on the negotiations.

(Source: Reuters)

The parliament in Catalonia has harshly criticized the Spanish government for its intentions to take over the regional powers, saying it would do its utmost to defend sovereignty of the independence-seeking territory.

Carme Forcadell, who serves as the speaker of the parliament, said on Saturday that the chamber would not allow Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to dismantle the current regional government of Catalonia.

“Prime Minister Rajoy wants the parliament of Catalonia to stop being a democratic parliament, and we will not allow this to happen,” Forcadell said in a televised speech, adding that Madrid’s move to fire Catalonia’s government and force a new election is a “coup” and an “attack against democracy.”

“This is why we want to send to the citizens of this country a message of firmness and hope. We commit today, after the most serious attack against the Catalan institutions since they were restored, to the defense of the sovereignty of the parliament of Catalonia,” she said.

Forcadell’s statement came as about half a million people took to the streets of Barcelona to support the results of a controversial referendum earlier this month, which gave regional leader Carles Puigdemont the mandate to declare independence from Madrid.

Municipal police said around 450,000 people welcomed a call by Puigdemont and other secessionist leaders and rallied on Barcelona’s large Paseo de Gracia boulevard and nearby streets. Puigdemont joined the rally to the shouts of “President, President” by protesters who waved Catalonia’s yellow, red and blue Estelada separatist flag. He was later to address the protesters in a televised speech.

Demonstrators said they would defy Madrid’s measures to stop Catalonia from breaking away. “The Catalans are completely disconnected from Spanish institutions, and particularly anything to do with the Spanish state,” said a protester.

“They can destroy the government, they can destroy everything they want but we’ll keep on fighting,” said another.

Puigdemont was supposed to declare Catalonia independence from Madrid last Tuesday, when he attended a special parliament session in Barcelona. However, he suspended the declaration to allow talks with Madrid. The Spanish government has rejected talks as it views the entire independence process as constitutionally illegal.

Source: Presstv

Two prominent Catalan independence leaders have been sent to jail by the order of Spain’s National Court over suspicion of crimes of sedition.

On Monday, Jordi Sanchez of the Catalan National Assembly and Jordi Cuixart of Omnium Cultural were detained while under investigation over their role in demonstrations against police ahead of a banned independence referendum.

Both of them are accused of heading protests in Barcelona on September 20, while police were attempting to round up Catalonian officials ahead of the vote.

They are both currently being held without bail and are facing a possible up to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Catalonia’s separatist government has denounced the ruling as provocation by the Spanish government, and the Catalan National Assembly called on people across the region to go on strike on Tuesday.

“Spain jails Catalonia’s civil society leaders for organizing peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again,” said Catalonia’s regional head Carles Puigdemont.

Last week, the Catalan leader signed a symbolic declaration of independence following the referendum but held off on officially declaring independence. Puigdemont claimed that 90 percent of the voters in the referendum had backed secession, but the turnout had been put at only 43 percent.

Spain has been in turmoil since the separatist government in Catalonia held a disputed referendum on October 1.

The Spanish government went out of its way to avert the referendum, raiding venues and confiscating ballot boxes and papers, arresting officials, and even installing police forces at sites where polling stations managed to get set up to

physically remove voters. Security forces used batons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds of voters, wounding nearly 900 people.

Source: Presstv

Police forces in the Spanish city of Barcelona have surrounded the regional parliament compound hours ahead of a potential declaration of independence of Catalonia.

The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police force, said on its Twitter page on Tuesday that security measures were imposed around the park where the parliament is located as there was the risk that opponents and supporters of Catalonia’s independence campaign could approach the area during a planned session in which regional leaders may declare Catalonia’s independence from Spain.

“For security reasons, Parc de la Ciutadella is closed to the public today,” said the short statement, without elaborating.

Several blue police vans were parked outside of the parliament building while metal barriers were set up at the entrance to the park.

A police spokesman said authorities hoped to “prevent any situation that would put pressure on parliamentary activity.”

“We are trying to avoid these situations, both on the part of pro-unity protesters as well as by groups of radical separatists,” he said.

The spokesman added that “a group of people forced their way into the park and threw objects against the parliament building” on Sunday, when hundreds of thousands of people staged a massive rally in Barcelona against the independence drive.

Separatist organizations in Catalonia have called on supporters of independence to gather in front of the parliament “to support and defend the declaration of independence.”

The calls come as Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont could finally declare independence during the Tuesday parliamentary session, more than a week after a controversial referendum in which around 90 percent from a population of 2.3 million voters, less than half of those eligible to vote in Catalonia, endorsed the independence campaign. The vote came amid some unprecedented tensions on the streets as more than 900 people were injured in clashes with the police.

The Spanish government in Madrid has labeled the entire process of seeking referendum in Catalonia as illegal, including the referendum and the Tuesday vote in the regional parliament.

The political crisis, the most serious for Spain in nearly four decades, have hugely affected the economically-vibrant Catalonia, as major companies and banks have either moved their headquarters out of Barcelona or have announced plans to do so if regional leaders declare independence.

Source: Presstv

British Prime Minister Theresa May has signaled she might demote Boris Johnson amid pressure to sack the foreign secretary, a report says.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, May hinted at her plans for Johnson, who is accused by some of her allies of undercutting her by taking a different position on Brexit.

“It has never been my style to hide from a challenge and I’m not going to start now,” the paper quoted May as saying.

“I’m the PM, and part of my job is to make sure I always have the best people in my cabinet, to make the most of the wealth of talent available to me in the party.”

May delivered a speech in Florence last month, proposing a two-year transitional period to be started after the UK leaves the European Union in 2019.

A few days earlier, Johnson said in a newspaper article that the two-year post-Brexit transition deal should be “done as fast as possible,” and that the period should last “not a second more” than two years for the UK.

His interventions were seen by many lawmakers as undermining May and causing unnecessary unrest prior to the party’s conference last week that culminated in a disastrous speech by May, spoiled by a coughing fit, a comedian handing her a bogus employment termination notice, and by letters falling off the slogans on the set behind her.

Referring to her conference speech, May told the newspaper, “I am a very determined person. I am not someone who gives up.”

Meanwhile, former Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said Friday that 30 Conservative members of parliament supported a plot to topple the prime minister.

Shapps, who chaired the party between 2012 and 2015, said the premier’s leadership should now be challenged.

“I think she should call a leadership election,” Shapps told BBC Radio.

The news, however, caused senior figures, including Johnson himself, to rally around May and call for unity.

“We have just had an election and people are fed up with this malarkey,” Johnson said in a message to Conservative lawmakers.

May’s authority was already diminished by her decision to call a snap election in June that lost her party its majority in parliament just days before the opening of Brexit talks with the European Union.

To trigger a formal leadership challenge, 48 Conservative lawmakers need to write to the chairman of the party’s so-called 1922 Committee.

Source: Presstv

Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron’s performance, a poll shows, a dramatic decline for a president who basked in a landslide election victory less than four months ago. The poll, conducted by Ifop for newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), showed Macron’s “dissatisfaction rating” rising to 57 percent, from 43 percent in July.

Forty percent expressed satisfaction with the centrist leader – down 14 points from July. French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the ruling party was going through a tricky time, but added that displeasing some people was a price worth paying if the government wanted to push through reforms.

“Yes, we are encountering difficulties, but you cannot just spend your time only looking at polls when you’re in government. We are there to transform the country. Our country needs us to take risks, and we are taking risks,” Castaner told BFM TV.

Macron, who is midway through a schedule of official visits to various European capitals, has suffered a number of setbacks since being elected, including tough debates in parliament over labor reform, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance. Social media commentators and political opponents criticized the president after it emerged he spent 26,000 euros ($31,000) on makeup during his first 100 days in office and his office also backed down on plans to give his wife a formal, paid role after a public backlash.

Bernard Sananes, head of French polling company Elabe, said the latest survey could encourage Macron’s political opponents, after his party won a commanding majority in parliament. “It could mean, for the government, that the opposition mobilizes itself again,” Sananes told BFM TV. The Ifop poll showed the cumulative drop in Macron’s popularity ratings since May was bigger than that of previous Socialist president Francois Hollande over the same period. The poll also showed a drop in popularity for Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, with 47 percent expressing satisfaction with him – down 9 points from last month.

Macron, France’s youngest leader since Napoleon, faces a big test next month when the far-left CGT trade union leads a rally to protest against plans to deregulate the jobs market. “Now is the key time, with the labor executive orders to be presented,” said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based investment firm Prime Partners, who has an “underweight” position on French equities.

(Source: Reuters)

A new poll shows that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s approval rating has hit a record low, with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn overtaking her for the first time. According to the survey compiled by Ipsos MORI for the London Evening Standard newspaper, only 34 percent of respondents said they approve of May’s leadership, while 59 percent expressed their disapproval with her minority government.

This is the lowest approval rating ever recorded for any modern-day prime minister immediately after an election. The poll also revealed that 44 percent of adults are satisfied with Labour leader Corbyn, only one percentage point less than those who are dissatisfied. Over one thousand adults across the UK participated in the poll.

“The turnaround in Mrs. May’s ratings is unprecedented in our previous data on prime ministers – from a historic high at the start of the campaign to a historic low just one month after an election, while also seeing her position among her own party supporters weakening and Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign surge continuing,” said Head of political research at Ipsos MORI Gideon Skinner.

“Having said that, she still has the edge as most capable PM among over 35s,” Skinner added. May’s rating has plummeted over a number of her policies, including social care and school funding. May’s Conservatives were enjoying a record surge in April in the polls when she opportunistically called for a snap election in hopes of getting an increased majority that could have strengthened her position before going into two years of intense negotiations with the European Union about Britain’s departure from the bloc.

However, May’s election gamble spectacularly backfired. British on June 8 voters dealt her a devastating blow, wiping out her parliamentary majority and throwing the country into political turmoil. Corbyn’s Labour, meanwhile, picked up dozens of seats. According to another poll released earlier this month, the Labour Party took an eight-point lead over the Conservative Party. The YouGov poll put Labour on 46 percent and the Conservatives on 38 percent.

Source: Presstv

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will postpone plans for a second independence referendum until after negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union have concluded next year. Sturgeon made the announcement in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday, saying that she was putting on hold her plans to introduce legislation that would demand a second referendum until autumn 2018 when Brexit terms are supposedly clear.

“The Scottish government remains committed strongly to the principle of giving Scotland a choice at the end of this [Brexit] process but I want to reassure people that our proposal is not for a referendum now, or before there is sufficient clarity about the options, but rather to give them a choice at the end of the Brexit process when that clarity has emerged,” Sturgeon said.

“We will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately,” she added. “The Scottish government will reset the plan I set out.” Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) noted that the “uncertainty” of the Brexit process is now her priority and her party is focused on getting “the best deal out of Brexit – the best deal for Scotland.”

“Instead, we will – in good faith – redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the Brexit talks in a way that protects Scotland’s interests,” she noted. The pro-independence Scottish Greens called on the SNP leader not to back down on her bid to have a second referendum and to “continue fighting” for another vote on the issue.

Source: Presstv

Spanish lawmakers on Thursday as expected threw out a Catalan bid to hold an independence referendum which a court had already ruled illegal. Pro-separatist regional president Carles Puigdemont presented a bill calling on Madrid to “respect” the wealthy northeastern region’s attempt to hold a vote in October.

But 250 out of 350 lawmakers, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservatives and backed by the main opposition Socialists and centrist Ciudadanos, voted down the move. Regionalist and pro-independence parties as well as the far-left Podemos group cast 92 votes in favor of a referendum.

Backed by a majority of pro-separatists in the Catalan regional assembly, Puigdemont wants to hold a referendum asking voters if they want their region, population 7.5 million, to be an independent republic.

Madrid has rejected the move as unconstitutional. Catalans appear divided on the issue, with 48.5 percent against and 44.3 percent in favor according to latest polls, although some three-quarters back holding a referendum.

(Source: AFP)