The Parliamentary Rules of Procedure: what are they? Why are they for? What are the sources of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure? It is essential for lobbyists to know the Parliamentary Rules and how they are actually applied. Mainly to determine when to lobby.

1. THE RULES OF PARLIAMENT:
WHOEVER IS GOOD AT
PLAYING BY THE RULES, WINS
February 2021

2. THE PARLIAMENTARY RULES OF
PROCEDURE: WHAT ARE THEY?
It Italy, crucial phases in institutional
life, such as the one triggered by
the recent breakdown in the second
Conte government, often shed light
on dynamics within the Chamber of
Deputies and the Senate that might
raise confusion.
Every single step is regulated by the
Parliamentary Rules of Procedure,
that lay down what the Parliament –
and the government, indirectly – can
and cannot do and when.

3. The Parliamentary Rules (both written
and unwritten) set out the prerogatives of
the majority and the opposition, as well
as those of the individual MPs, and govern
the accessibility and transparency of
parliamentary works.
The Rules influence legislative procedure:
for example, they determine whether or
not amendments are admissible, what
kind of obstructionism is legitimate and
whether ballots are to be open or closed.
WHY ARE THEY FOR?

4. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THEM?
Very often the way parliamentary
business is conveyed is confusing and
fragmentary.
How do parliamentary groups form?
How do the committees vote? How is
the Assembly President elected? How is
parliamentary business scheduled?
These and other questions are
answered in the Rules of Procedure
of the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate.

5. RULES

6. SOURCES OF THE PARLIAMENTARY RULES OF PROCEDURE
So, the Chamber and the Senate
are both independent in terms of:
› administration/organisation,
they can organise their own
administrative offices and hire
their own personnel;
› finances/accounting, they
approve an internal budget
setting out how the economic
resources required for operation
will be used;
› the inviolability of their offices,
they have sole power over the
policing of their offices.
Public security forces cannot
access their offices without the
President’s consent, and never
during parliamentary sittings;
› their jurisdictional autonomy,
they settle all disputes
regarding their administration
by themselves;
› checks on powers, they
examine the eligibility of their
members and the causes for
ineligibility and incompatibility
that arise.
Each House
adopts its
own Rules by
an absolute
majority of its
members.
“
Art. 64 of the
Constitution,
section 1

7. The Chamber and the Senate have sole
regulatory jurisdiction, which means
that no ordinary law can regulate
‘parliamentary’ matters.
What’s more, the Parliamentary Rules
of Procedure are not subject to the
supervision of the Constitutional Court:
The houses are indeed independent of
any other power: Constitutional Court
ruling no. 120/2014.
SOURCES OF THE PARLIAMENTARY RULES
OF PROCEDURE

8. REFERENCE CASES/REGULATIONS

9. It takes at least 20 deputies to
form a Parliamentary Group,
but with the Assembly President’s
approval, a Group can be formed
with fewer MPs.
GROUP FORMATION AND
‘TRASFORMISMO’(CASE STUDY OF LeU)
THE CHAMBER
For exemple
Take the current legislature. The 14 deputies
elected with the Free and Equal party (LeU)
formed an independent Group.

10. GROUP FORMATION AND ‘TRASFORMISMO’ (CASE STUDY OF IV)
Is this just a ploy?
The neo-party Italia Viva (IV)
managed to form an independent
Group even though the party was
created after the 2018 political
elections.
Sen. Riccardo Nencini, the only
elected representative of the Italian
Socialist Party (PSI), came to its aid
and allowed the new the new PSI-
IV Group to ‘borrow’ the party’s
name.
It takes at least 10 senators to
form a parliamentary group,
as long as they represent a
political party or movement
that ran in the elections.
Trasformismo (literally, ‘transformism’), i.e., when individual MPs switch
from one group to another, is always allowed because, according to
Art. 67 of the Italian Constitution, MPs are not bound by their mandate.
THE SENATE

11. LAWS DON’T GET PASSED IN THE ASSEMBLY ALONE
In the Senate, initially, this
was the exception.
Though after the rules were
amended in 2017, this should
be the rule: the President
can send draft bills to the
appropriate committee for
examination in a legislative
capacity but it can no longer
send them in a reporting
capacity unless it has been
expressly set out that such
bills be sent to the Assembly.
What draft bills are these?
For example, the art. 35
escludes:
› constitutional and
electoral bills;
› bills delegating legislative
powers;
› bills authorising the
ratification of international
treaties;
› bills approving budgets
and accounts.

12. LAWS DON’T GET PASSED
IN THE ASSEMBLY ALONE
What does this mean?
More power for Parliamentary
Committees and less publicity
about their business, because,
as a rule, Committee sittings
are not public – however, in
many cases they are, as in the
case of Committee hearings –
and, at the end of the meeting,
a summary report is made
available (the stenographic
report is published even
months later).
Measures regarding
the diagnosis,
treatment and
certification of people
with autistic disorders
and assistance for
families.
“
For example:
Draft Bill (L. 134/2015)

13. JURISDICTIONAL AUTONOMY: THE MINZOLINI CASE
In 2017 Sen.
Augusto Minzolini
was convicted of
misappropriation of
funds but the Senate
voted against having
him forfeit his office.
› According to Art. 66 of the
Italian Constitution
THE CASE
each House verifies
the credentials of its
members and the causes
of disqualification that may
arise at a later stage.
› The so-called Legge
Severino lists a series
of causes for the
“
disqualification of deputies
and senators, even when
such causes arise during
their term, including being
ultimately convicted of
a series of crimes (such
as the misappropriation
of funds, tax fraud and
corruption).

14. JURISDICTIONAL AUTONOMY DIFFERENT CASES
THE SENATE
Sen. Silvio Berlusconi,
ultimately convicted
of tax fraud, was
dispelled from his
seat in 2013.
THE CHAMBER
Deputy Giancarlo
Galan was expelled
in 2016 after being
ultimately convicted
for bribery.
Is this a double standard?
NO, it isn’t: MPs aren’t expelled automatically, this
only happens after their cases are independently
assessed by the Parliamentary Assembly.

15. together and only one is
voted on. The first is either
passed or rejected, and
then all the others follow.
It’s legitimate because the
President of the Chamber
and of the Senate have the
power to
During the Senate examination
of the Boschi-Renzi Reform,
1,400 amendments were
removed. How is that possible?
By using the so-called ‘kangaroo
manoeuvre’, meant to prevent
obstructionism in the Senate
but also a written rule of the
Chamber. In this manoeuvre,
similar amendments with
similar content are grouped
UNWRITTEN RULES: THE ‘KANGAROO’
IN THE BOSCHI-RENZI REFORM
change the voting order
when this is deemed
appropriate for the economy
and clarity of the vote.
“
In the Chamber, the kangaroo manoeuvre couldn’t be
carried out for the Boschi-Renzi Reform because the Rules
expressly exclude it for constitutional bills.

16. APPROVAL OF DECREE-LAWS
Decree-Laws have to be converted into
law by the Parliament within 60 days of
being passed.
This time frame is expressly set out in
Art. 77 of the Senate Rules of Procedure,
but not in the Chamber Rules.
What does this mean? That in the
Chamber of Deputies the Government
has to try and forge political agreement
with the groups to convert decrees
before they expire.

17. When IV left the government majority
in search of a new majority in
the Parliamentary Assemblies,
this showed just how weak the
government parties are inside the
committees.
How is this possible?
Without IV’s support, the majority
in the second Conte Government
actually lost control over some
important Parliamentary Committees
in the Senate, including the
Budget and Constitutional Affairs
Committees (responsible for
amending the Electoral Law).
What do the Rules say? How can
imbalances form between the
Parliamentary Assembly and the
Committees if the Committees
must ‘reflect the proportions of the
Parliamentary Groups’?
THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE MAJORITY IN THE
ASSEMBLY, NOT IN THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES
Here’s how, in the second Conte Government, IV headed up three
Committees: Finance and Transport in the Chamber and Hygiene
and Healthcare in the Senate.

18. THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE MAJORITY IN THE
ASSEMBLY, NOT IN THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES
Nevertheless, the power relations between
the majority and the opposition were already
looking complicated in several Committees,
both in the Chamber and the Senate.
Had IV voted with the opposition, the
majority would only have had an advantage
in 3 of the 14 Senate Committees (Finance,
Agriculture and Labour). In the others, there
would have been an even number or they
would have already been in the minority
from the beginning.
This wouldn’t have been the first time: this
already happened in 2011 with the
Berlusconi Government.

19. WHEN POLITICAL MOTIVES PREVAIL
OVER THE RULES
Although the Rules of the Chamber and
the Senate both expressly state that all
Committees must also elect a President,
in 2019 the Senate Labour, Hygiene and
Healthcare and Defence Committees did
not have Presidents.
Why? Lack of political agreement within
the government majority. This also
happened in 2016 during the Gentiloni
Government in the Constitutional
Affairs Committee when President Anna
Finocchiaro was appointed Minister of
Parliamentary Relations.
THE CASE
OF THE
PRESIDENT-LESS
COMMITTEES

20. ABSOLUTE/RELATIVE MAJORITY AND ABSTENTION
In the Senate, last 19 January,
when a vote of confidence
was held on the second Conte
Government, the 18 senators
from Italia Viva who abstained
actually helped the PM.
Let’s try and understand why...

21. RICORSI ALLA CORTE COSTITUZIONALE
RELATIVE MAJORITY
The majority of those present
(half+1), after verifying the quorum
(i.e. the majority of the members).
When it’s required: for most
resolutions, including the
government vote of confidence.
ABSOLUTE MAJORITY
The majority of the members of
the Assembly (half+1), so 316 in the
Chamber and 161 in the Senate.
When it’s required: e.g., to approve
parliamentary rules, deviations
in balancing the budget, the
indictment of Ministers.
In the Senate, after the rules were reformed in 2017, abstention is
no longer a vote against. Previously, even abstaining Senators were
counted to reach the quorum for a relative majority.
ABSOLUTE/RELATIVE MAJORITY AND ABSTENTION

22. GOVERNMENT CONFIDENCE.
THE TIMELY VOTING OF THE ‘RESPONSIBLES’
In the Senate, the Conte Government
won the vote of confidence by a hair, not
only because Senators were called to
‘responsibly’ safeguard the country from
political instability, but because of a time
issue as well.
The vote of Sen. Nencini (PSI) and Sen.
Lello Ciampolillo (Mixed group, formerly
of the Five Star Movement) were only
validated after checking the video, which
proved that these two Senators had cast
their vote in time, i.e., before President
Elisabetta Casellati announced the end
of the voting session.

23. GOVERNMENT CONFIDENCE.
THE TIMELY VOTING OF THE ‘RESPONSIBLES’
Government confidence voting
is done electronically with a roll
call and an electronic device
(art. 116). In alphabetical order
starting with a randomly chosen
name, the President calls the
Senators, who express their
vote orally and, at the same time,
activate an electronic device.
The voting procedure must
end by the time the President
communicates the end of the
voting.
What do the
Rules say?

24. The Conte Government obtained
the confidence of the Chamber
and the Senate even without
Italia Viva’s votes. However, in
the Senate there were only 156
votes, just short of the 161 votes
needed for an absolute majority.
This foreshadowed the risk of a
minority Government, or rather, a
Government without the support
of a parliamentary majority.
Is this possible?
Yes, it is, because according to
the Italian Constitution, no actual
WHAT IF THERE’S A MINORITY GOVERNMENT?
majority is required in addition to
a positive vote of confidence when
the government is inaugurated.
However, there’s one condition: the
executive needs a majority both in the
Parliamentary Committees and in the
Assembly, so a minority Government
can only survive if the opposition
doesn’t obstruct it and
acts ‘responsibly’.
The first Leone Government and
the third Andreotti Government
are examples of past minority
Governments.

25. It is always the opposition that knows
the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
best. Since the opposition cannot
impact the discussion and draft bills,
it becomes an expert in stalling and
postponing the vote on measures
it doesn’t approve of, also known as
filibustering.
Starting with agenda items (art. 88 of
the Chamber of Deputy Regulation/
art. 95 of the Senate of Republic
Regulation), which are, at most,
accepted by the Government as
recommendations.
IF YOU HAVE AN EXPERT ON THE RULES ON YOUR SIDE,
YOU’RE IN LUCK!
In the 10th legislature (1987-1992)
802 items were submitted, in the
17th legislature, 9,995, in the current
legislature 3,790. Whoever submits
an item for the agenda may talk for
5 minutes just to explain it and for
another 5 on their voting intentions.
That’s ten minutes for 600 MPs,
which can really slow down the
discussion!
Assembly interventions can also be
used to stall for time. Finally, motions
– over 500 submitted in the past
year – are a way to filibuster.

26. Sen. Roberto Calderoli (The League),
the Vice president of the Senate, is
considered the foremost expert on
the new rules
I know the rules by heart, and when
appropriate, I use them to make things
difficult for the majority.
For example, that’s what he did
during the approval of the Draft
Bill converting the Decree-Law on
elections (n. 26/2020) last June.
On the eve of the expiry of the
Decree-Law (already approved in the
“
CALDEROLI: DENNIS THE MENACE
Chamber), the vote of the Assembly
was annulled because it didn’t meet
the quorum (there were only 149
MPs, instead of 150). Members’
leave had been miscounted, and the
only one who noticed was indeed
Sen. Calderoli. So the Assembly
vote was annulled, forcing all the
Senators who had gone home that
evening thinking their votes were
valid to have to return to Rome the
following morning in time to vote
again. Really funny!

27. THE POSSIBLE REFORMS
Although the Parliamentary Rules of
Procedure have changed many times,
they have not been structurally
reformed since the drafting of the
Italian Constitution. So, many rules
have fallen out of use, been renewed
de facto by praxis and others are no
longer considered applicable.
A few possible reforms:
› electronic voting, always. During
the current pandemic, some even
proposed remote voting;
› publicise parliamentary Committee
business, many have requested
this inside and outside Parliament,
because often Committee meetings
are not public and only a summary
report is provided afterwards;
› stricter rules on group formation to
prevent the formation of mini-groups,
common in transformismo;
› more room in the schedule for
Draft Bills from the people’s initiative,
regional councils and petitions.

28. After the ‘Yes’ victory in the
Referendum to cut MPs, reforming
the Rules has become a priority.
Chamber President Roberto Fico had
started looking into this issue and
called the Executive Committee on
the Rules twice. The Senate has been
less active on this front.
President Fico said:
THE PARLIAMENT AFTER
THE REFERENDUM ON CUTTING MPS
Then there’s the need to verify the
impact of constitutional reform on
the rules for Parliamentary Groups
and the political components of the
Mixed Group, where it establishes the
minimum numbers required.
Nevertheless, the risk of having to go
back to the polls without reforming
the Rules of the Chamber and Senate
is very high.
“

29. LOBBYING AND THE RULES OF PARLIAMENT
It is essential for lobbyists to know
the Parliamentary Rules and how
they are actually applied.
Mainly in order to determine when to
lobby. To be effective, lobbying has to
be timely, i.e., it has to happen at the
right phase in the legislative process
(when Draft Bills can still change).
For example, it is crucial to know
who has the power to submit
amendments, when they can be
submitted and which parts of a Draft
Bill can be amended in each phase of
the process.
When all of this is known, dialogue
with MPs (and the Government) can
be planned properly and effectively.

30. LOBBYING AND THE RULES OF PARLIAMENT
However, to lobby effectively, it is
also important to know who to
request a meeting with, e.g., with
the Rapporteur of the Draft Bill, who
is the key figure in the legislative
process, as are the Presidents of the
Committees acting in a reporting
capacity, who can decide if an
amendment is admissible or not.
An amendment submitted by the
Rapporteur is more likely to get
approved in the Committee acting
in a reporting capacity. Whereas –
even though the rules don’t say so
– amendments submitted during
the Assembly are not very likely to
get approved. This is because the
Government usually resorts to
urgent decrees and, in the majority
of cases, in order to speed the
approval of amendments and avoid
last-minute surprises, proposes
maxi-amendment, then poses the
question of confidence.

31. Until last October, during this
legislature, 3,197 amendments
had been approved in the
committees whereas only 421 had
been approved in the Assembly.
What’s more, starting from the
third reading, only the parts of a
Draft Bill that have been added
or changed by the other House
can be amended in a branch of
Parliament.
LOBBYING AND THE RULES OF PARLIAMENT

32. Lobbyists need to pay as much
attention to parliamentary praxis
as they do to the rules.
Once Draft Bills were ‘shuttled’
one or more times between the
Chamber and the Senate before a
Law was approved.
With the current legislature,
this process has practically
disappeared, and most laws are
approved after only going through
each House once.
Take the 2021 Budget Law, for
example. It was only amended
in the Chamber and was
approved as is by the Senate
(and rushed through to meet
the 31 December deadline).
LOBBYING AND THE RULES OF PARLIAMENT

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TELOS ANALISI & STRATEGIE