Mass rally against gay civil unions in Rome
How EU offer to UK’s Cameron is shaping up
ROME: Hundreds of thousands of people are due to protest in Rome’s Circus Maximus arena yesterday against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hotpotato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government. “As many people as possible must take part, remember this is the only weapon we have!” organizer Massimo Gandolfini said ahead of the “Family Day” rally, which begins in the capital’s ancient Roman chariot racing stadium at 1100 GMT.
Gandolfini said he expected to fill the arena, which can take 350,000 people without counting the surrounding streets. Authorities said they were preparing for up to 500,000 people as coaches began to arrive from across the country. Italy is the last major Western country not to allow same-sex couples legal status. The Senate began examining the bill on Thursday, which would enable gay people to commit to one another before a state official and, in certain circumstances, adopt each other’s children and inherit residual pension rights.
In 2007, another vast “Family Day” forced the centre-left government of Romano Prodi to drop a much less ambitious civil union project-and the failure of the bill was cited as one of the reasons behind the fall of his government early the following year. Supporters say Italy has no choice this time but to change, pointing to repeated complaints from the European Court of Human Rights. But opponents hope their protest, backed by the Catholic Church, will slam the brakes on the bill. The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) on Friday said it was “concerned” about the “process underway of putting marriage and civil unions on the same level-with the introduction of an alternative to the family”.
‘Beacon for Europe’
Centre-left Renzi has said he is confident the bill will pass, though there are several sticking points, in particular the ability to adopt the biological children of one’s partner. “Italy tomorrow will become a beacon for Europe. Each child needs a father and a mother, the complete deal,” Jacopo Coghe, head of the Family Generation association, told journalists at a pre-rally on Friday.
As the hours ticked down to the demo, rights associations pleaded with would-be participants to change their mind. “It is statistically certain that among your children there are many boys and girls who, even if they’ve never confided in you, are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender,” the Agedo association of parents and friends of LGBT people said. Beppe Severgnini, popular columnist for the Corriere della Sera, Italy’s best-selling daily, said: “Italy, as we all know, has already decided”. The arguments against gay civil unions recall those here against divorce 42 years ago, he said. “The answer should be the same: no one is obliged to get divorced, no one is obliged to get a civil union. But if they want do, why should we stop them?” — AFP LONDON: A draft EU reform package to help keep Britain in the European Union could be circulated tomorrow following meetings between Prime Minister David Cameron and top EU officials. The following are key points of what Reuters has been told by sources close to the negotiations could be the proposal European Council President Donald Tusk will send to EU governments after talks over dinner with Cameron in London on Sunday:
The form
Negotiators will work through the weekend to craft a single document laying out legislative and other measures responding to Cameron’s November demands for reforms so he campaigns to keep Britain in the EU in a referendum by the end of next year. Depending on how Friday’s talks in Brussels with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have gone, and on the Cameron-Tusk meeting, the document could set out in more or less detail a classic EU negotiating text, including blank spaces and alternative wordings in brackets, to be haggled over up to and during a summit chaired by Tusk in Brussels on Feb 1819.
Nothing is done until everything is. A deal, needing all 28 national leaders’ assent, could pave the way for a referendum as early as June. Impasse would probably mean more talks. The EU sees its proposals as legally watertight, safe from challenges in court and not requiring amendments to treaties now - something hard to pull off quickly across all 28 EU states. On some issues, it will offer binding guarantees that treaties will be amended later if that is required to enact proposals.
Migration
Cameron wants to discourage other Europeans coming to Britain by excluding them from the tax credits, child allowances and other non-contributory social benefits attached to low paid British jobs for at least four years. Without changing EU treaties guaranteeing free movement of labor and barring national discrimination, EU lawyers propose an “emergency brake”, limiting those fundamental rights where vital national interests or economic stability are at risk. Legislation would give any state to curb in-work benefits for up to four years - if agreed to the European Council of fellow governments. Normally, Council decisions are by consensus - in effect, unanimity - but easier terms might be negotiated. Allowances for children could also be reduced long term. EU negotiators speak of “indexing” so that workers whose children live in cheaper states than the parent would receive less.
Euro-zone
Cameron wants more legal safeguards for Britain’s sterling-based economy and big financial industry from a risk of the euro zone countries writing EU rules to suit them. The EU proposes another “emergency brake” where Britain could object in the Council of all EU ministers. How far Britain may block measures and how far it would need allies is unclear yet. London and euro zone leaders all say Britain should not have a blanket veto.
National sovereignty
Cameron wants assurances Britain need not hand more power to Brussels and to enhance the say of nations in the EU. The EU will be proposing a “red card”, letting national parliaments acting in concert block EU legislation. How few legislatures could obstruct how much is still being negotiated. Britain wants it made clear that an EU treaty phrase calling for “ever closer union” among peoples does not mean more political integration. The EU will offer a binding decision by the European Council, echoing a reassurance it gave in 2014.
Competitiveness
The least contentious area of Cameron’s four reform “baskets”, calling for less red tape and more economic dynamism has broad backing so a set of declarations will echo EU policy, but with elements to show Britain Brussels is listening. — Reuters