The end-of-life bill is heading to its second reading in the Grand and General Council (Consiglio Grande e Generale), where all sixty councillors will be able to examine it article by article.
It is precisely this step that Domani – Motus Liberi (D-ML) is using as a starting point to challenge the change to the Council’s rules of procedure approved by the majority in October. For future ordinary laws, the party notes, the examination of articles and amendments will be handed over to committees acting in drafting capacity (“sede redigente”), while the full Council chamber will essentially be left with only the final vote on the text.
According to D-ML, the debate over the end-of-life law illustrates the consequences this procedural shift could have, particularly on ethical issues, where even members of the same party may hold differing views. Under the new rules, the party argues, councillors who are not part of the relevant committee would only reach the chamber floor once work on the articles has already been completed.
“If a councillor is stripped of the real ability to shape the construction of a law in the very place where all elected representatives sit together, then the representation of the citizens who voted for them is also weakened,” the statement reads.
The party also pushed back against the majority’s justification for the reform, namely the need to speed up Council proceedings. “A law made more quickly is not necessarily a law made better.”
D-ML is therefore calling for a review of the use of the drafting committee as the standard procedure. “Sixty councillors are not simply sixty votes to be tallied up at the end — they are sixty representatives of the citizens, called upon to take part in shaping the laws of the Republic.”
