Economists at LaVoce have issued a proposal for the Government to easily raise 172 million euro that can be set aside for reconstruction work. In belt-tightening times you’d imagine the government would be all ears, but I’ve the suspicion that this is a proposal that will be deftly ignored.

In June the country is set to go to the polls for the European elections and many comunal elections on the same day, and a week later for a referendum on Italy’s electoral law. LaVoce renews the call to hold an ‘election day’ where all three votes can take place together rather than forcing citizens to return to the polls a second time (with all the attendant costs for administration).

The official reason behind distancing the referendum vote from the elections is to avoid confusion amongst the electorate. It’s no secret though that the Lega Nord, who introduced the much criticised electoral law (their own minister responsible for framing it described it as a ‘porcata’ or dirty trick) and  have benefited from it to become the power brokers of the current administration, are dead-set against holding an ‘election-day’. The reason? Perhaps it’s because Italy’s referendum’s require a quorum of 50% to validate any referendum. The chances of an already despondent electorate returning in force to the polls for a second time in the hot month of June are lessened.

Hopefully popular pressure can be brought to shame the government into doing what any cost-aware administration would have done in the first place, and at the same time some good can be done directly for the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake.