Italy's centre-right proposes four-city Senate constituency for South Tyrol

The centre-right has presented a new counterproposal to the South Tyrolean People’s Party, or SVP, on how to redraw the Bolzano-Lower Adige Senate constituency. Instead of covering 18 municipalities, it would include only four: Bolzano, Laives, Bronzolo and Vadena.

The four neighboring municipalities have Italian-majority populations and together represent more than 125,000 people, or 22 percent of the population of the province of Bolzano. All the other municipalities currently in the constituency would be transferred to the Burgraviato constituency.

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An excellent compromise

The proposal came from Fratelli d’Italia lawmaker Alessandro Urzì and Forza Italia provincial councillor Christian Bianchi. It partly responds to German-speaking voters in Lower Adige, who had demanded that their communities not be split among several constituencies. Under an earlier Urzì amendment, five municipalities in the Oltradige area would have moved to the Merano-Val Venosta constituency and one Lower Adige municipality to Brunico-Val Pusteria. The new version would place all of them in the Merano area.

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This is worse than before

Bianchi called the plan “an excellent compromise” and said it would strengthen the principle of reserving the Senate seat for an Italian-language representative. The amendment, filed with Marco Lisei of Fratelli d’Italia as lead senator and signed by all centre-right parties, will be reviewed by committees before going to the Senate. Any amended bill would then return to the Chamber of Deputies, which approved the first version.

Urzì said the proposal addressed two central issues: guaranteeing parliamentary representation for South Tyrol’s Italian-language group and preserving the territorial unity of Lower Adige. Unterberger, an autonomist senator, rejected the approach, saying, “This is worse than before.”

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Guaranteeing Italian-language representation