00:01:28.800at the helm on Steve Bannon's war room.
00:01:32.840Energetic scenes just now we're watching from Italy's Parliament.
00:01:39.520The cheering side with the left and the socialists, the quiet stony faced side was the government
00:01:47.520and as a lot of the press have been reporting in the last 24 hours, the government has taken
00:01:55.600serious kicking in a key vote. This was to do with electoral reform. It's not as some
00:02:04.300of the mainstream press were suggesting the fact that Georgia Maloney has lost a confidence
00:02:12.160vote, though that's the way the left are presenting it. But it is still substantially illustrative
00:02:23.460of the weakness winning through her governing coalition and i say that because
00:02:31.380the reason the left won this vote it was on electoral reform last night the reason
00:02:36.660that they won this vote by one vote was due to around 20 to 25
00:02:45.220MPs from the governing party who voted with the opposition nobody knows for
00:02:54.460sure who voted with the opposition who from the government voted with the
00:03:04.400opposition because being an electoral reform vote this was conducted via
00:03:12.580a secret ballot so it wasn't a roll call vote we just members will shout
00:03:19.860present or have it wasn't a registered vote where each member each deputy is
00:03:25.980formally identified with their position this was absolute in secret no
00:03:30.580transparency no accountability the arguing is for electoral votes on those
00:03:36.400things members the deputies members of Parliament need to be able to vote with
00:03:42.780them according to their conscience and not pushed up be pushed about by party
00:03:47.920leadership what is interesting and this is what I'll be digging into now with my
00:03:57.760guest this evening is why members of the government would have voted with the
00:04:03.500opposition on this vote and what they were seeking to achieve by doing so so
00:04:10.760my guest back on the show so soon after we had him last week Luca Volontae one
00:04:16.760of the youngest members of Parliament elected in the back in the day in 1996
00:04:22.760for the Christian Democrats leader of the Christian Democrat group in the
00:04:28.180lower chamber, the equivalent to the House of Representatives in Italy. Then, while still
00:04:35.660double-hatting as a member of parliament, he led, he was the majority leader in the
00:04:41.860Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly for the largest centre-right bloc, the Christian
00:04:48.960Democrat bloc, the European People's Party. This was some 15 years ago when politics was
00:04:55.840somewhat different and christian democrats still had some christian values to them luca thanks for
00:05:01.820coming back on the show so soon after your last visit later on in this show we'll be updating the
00:05:08.640audience on some of the alarming news coming out of hungary but let's before we go um to hungary
00:05:17.320Let's discuss what's happening here this week in the Italian Parliament in Monte Cittorio.
00:05:26.240So, as I was saying in my introduction, the Western media is suggesting to somewhat,
00:05:32.700following, I think, the leader of the opposition, Ellie Schlein's view,
00:05:36.860that Giorgia Maloney has lost, or at least morally lost, a vote of confidence, which isn't true.
00:05:46.900Look, nobody, by the way, tunes in to the war room to hear Ben Harnwell defending Georgia Maloney. I don't do that. But I will give her, I think, some... I don't think everything that the government is saying on this vote can be dismissed out of hands, and some of what the opposition is saying is patently ridiculous.
00:06:09.340but let's we'll go through we've got 20 minutes to do so what happened then luca in the italian
00:06:15.260parliament why is the italian media which is obviously left-leaning and very happy to sustain
00:06:22.620the left-wing narrative so happy that the government lost this vote um and why did 20
00:06:30.060to 25 members of the governing coalition secretly vote along with the opposition and what were they
00:06:37.180hoping to achieve three facts be very clear for our public first is the merit of the amendment
00:06:49.180the amendment of the electoral law is a provision was a provision to introduce a preferences
00:06:58.300vote in the electoral ballot so any citizen could choose his candidate and fortunately elect or not
00:07:07.020elect his candidate in the parliament. So a form to improve more liberty, more
00:07:15.900freedom in the hands of every citizen vote. That was the substance of the
00:07:23.580amendment. Luca, let me just interrupt you on that one. Are you broadly
00:07:33.300supportive of what the government was trying to achieve then with this
00:07:38.100electoral reform? I'm very supportive because for two reasons. The first reason is that
00:07:44.580when one majority, any majority, any coalition could reach the limit of 42-43%
00:07:52.620could have a bonus to govern with stability for all five years mandate. That
00:08:01.020is very important. Second, if this amendment will be positively approved in the Senate
00:08:12.020next week, it could introduce a new form of freedom for the citizens. The real power
00:08:20.020of every citizen during the election is the vote. When the vote is not only for the party,
00:08:25.020the party but also for the person I give to the citizen a huge freedom to choose the best
00:08:32.140candidate at the best party or the best coalition that was the the meaning of the amendment and
00:08:39.740I was very shocked for two reasons the first reason for three the first is that the
00:08:46.140opposition coalition they call themselves the future of progress in the Italy was so
00:08:55.020after the vote, seems to be a circus in the parliament, in the institution.
00:09:06.600They show that they have not respect for the institution, not only for the majority of
00:09:18.960And they reject the opposition coalition and also these 25, 30 members of the coalition
00:09:31.220government, they reject this freedom to give this freedom to the citizens.
00:09:38.740This is the second point that shocks very strongly, because when the question is to
00:09:46.920give freedom for the people, we should give the people the most possible of freedom.
00:09:53.340And third, I'm not shocked, but I was concerned about these 30 people that vote against this
00:10:01.920freedom and this proposal of the party coalition in the majority coalition.
00:10:07.960Because, you know, especially when you vote electoral reform, you need that your member
00:10:14.060of the parliament should be very strong and very united around the proposal, especially
00:10:24.740after six months of discussion inside the coalition, you know.
00:10:28.300These people have decided to vote to join the opposition for only one reason.
00:10:34.560They are not sure to be re-elected, and that is very ridiculous, especially when we have
00:10:41.660a so strong government and and we hope to have a more strong government including also the national
00:10:49.340party um let me just come back to this point then about the defectors um the secret defectors
00:10:58.860the free shooters um would be the the i suppose a reasonable translation in italian the franchi
00:11:04.940tiratori those secret members of the government who were voting with the opposition those members
00:11:11.580of the government who is secretly voting with the opposition. You suggested in
00:11:20.160your answer that they were voting in the opposite direction of giving more
00:11:26.040freedom to the people and that's one way of looking. Well that's literally what
00:11:30.300they were voting for if you take the legislation, if you take the amendment
00:11:33.480on its own terms. There is another of course political consideration here and
00:11:38.040And that is they were trying to embarrass the prime minister.
00:11:41.900But obviously they don't want to do that publicly.
00:11:44.380But they were trying to send either send a message to her or send a message to the public to suggest that she doesn't govern with the degree of control that she likes to think she does.
00:11:58.940There is something, however, I just want to go through for the benefit of our largely American audience, because this can be difficult to understand.
00:12:10.640Basic precepts of democracy in the Anglo-American sphere that really don't exist in continental Europe.
00:12:19.720In the UK or in America, we have constituencies where people will directly elect only one representative, and they're specifically tied to territories.
00:12:41.020in italy the proportional representation is basically list form you have according to the
00:12:48.640region so many candidates depending on the size of the region could be 10 could be less could be
00:12:54.600more um and and the ranking of those you vote via party um and the ranking is ordered by the party
00:13:04.040leadership um so like you know it's horrific to the anglo-american is this the degree of control
00:13:12.020that the party has over who who is the representative of the people it in the de facto
00:13:21.160consequence of that is that elected representatives here on the continent are effectively representatives
00:13:27.420of their political party machinery to the people rather than representatives of the people
00:13:33.060to government to the legislature what the reform was now what the opposition had been asking for
00:13:41.040for many years was to give the people a greater degree of choice and what the government had come
00:13:47.500up with was they said okay we'll pick what's called the capitalista the the the the first
00:13:55.520The first name at the top of the list. So that person will always get in. And what the government had tried to do, Luca, if I've understood this correctly, was to give to the people of the region the greatest say in the ranking further down.
00:14:12.900After the capitalista down, people would have a greater discretion over the ordering of the candidates.
00:14:22.080That would be much more similar to the election process for the European Parliament.
00:14:29.520And lo and behold, the opposition that had been calling for years for greater democratic representation in the picking of their candidates,
00:14:39.900candidates, when it got to a secret ballot, they voted this down. And Luca, my suspicion is
00:14:45.800they deliberately voted down a reform that would have created, it wouldn't have made the system
00:14:55.740perfect, but it would have made it a lot better than it is at the moment. And they voted that down
00:15:00.620to score some petty political points and to humiliate Georgia Maloney. And as I say,
00:15:07.700anyone who watches me on the show i will criticize her any day of the week because i think she's
00:15:12.200largely performative um and hasn't been as effectual as a lot of people had hoped
00:15:18.120when they supported her five years ago but on this issue as in on the referendum earlier on
00:15:26.860this year she was actually doing something put a lot of political credibility and authority on the
00:15:32.120line. This is the second time she's lost a key vote this year. She put a credibility on the line
00:15:40.020to achieve something good and it didn't work out for her. Lucas Dunbar, take your interpretation
00:15:47.540on what I've just said after this quick shout out, if I may, being that stage of the show to
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00:18:02.500Alright, back with Luca Volante. So Luca, I was asking you why members of the government, and we know, because we know what the parliamentary arithmetic is, we know the opposition didn't have that many votes, and so we know for a fact that members of the government, governing coalition, because there were three parties in the governing coalition, we know that some of them would have voted secretly, using the cover of secrecy.
00:18:59.920It wasn't a no-confidence. The opposition has perfect power to table no-confidence votes and say this vote's going to be a no-confidence vote. They just need to get the minimum, put it 20 MPs together and do that. Likewise, the government can say this is a confidence vote, and therefore if they lose it, the government will tender its resignation to President Mattarella.
00:19:24.200Neither side did that. Probably Luka, because neither side knew how it was going to go, and neither wanted to give the ammunition to the other side.
00:19:34.640But my view on this is that if the opposition really thought that, and you can see them there, absolutely delighted with that victory.
00:19:43.720um my view is that if elie schlein really thought that the government no longer had
00:19:52.380a stable majority she would table a no confidence measure over the next few days in the government
00:20:00.360i don't think she will do that because she knows that the votes won't be there
00:20:03.600on a no confidence vote so the people the government members of the government who
00:20:07.860crossed the floor and voted secretly because it's all done by button by electronically there aren't
00:20:13.620any voting lobby lobbies there for these secret votes so no one knows who they are um so my view
00:20:19.920is if the government if the opposition really thought the government was in jeopardy they
00:20:24.300would table a no confidence vote right yeah yeah for sure but they they are very afraid to present
00:20:30.500a no confidence vote in the chamber of the deputy or sna because they're quite sure that could lost
00:20:36.560Unfortunately, also this afternoon, the proposal, the amendment proposed by the group of Futuro
00:20:45.840Nazionale from Banaci, totally proportional without saving the top in the list, the first
00:20:53.920in the list, was rejected, was voted in favor by Fratelli d'Italia group and part of the
00:21:02.320and rejected by the opposition of Socialists and Liberals, plus Forza Italia and Lega Nord.
00:21:13.940And that could be key to interpret from where the people voted with the left coalition yesterday
00:21:28.680against the amendment of the government that introduced for the first time the preferences
00:32:20.880You're just talking now about how confidence votes work in the Italian parliament.
00:32:30.540And that is that the secret vote is given to issues of conscience.
00:32:34.780In the UK, conscience votes are where the political parties will give the members a free vote
00:32:47.440They won't be whipped, they can vote however they want
00:32:50.940Of course, the thing is, every vote in the House of Commons is recorded by a member of Parliament
00:32:58.080So you know exactly how each member voted, even on conscience votes
00:33:03.280I don't know what the technical procedure is for conscience votes in the US Congress, but that's how it is in the UK.
00:33:13.860Some votes, like on abortion, for example, you mentioned that.
00:33:16.600That will be a conscience vote, and the government and the opposition, they won't whip members of parliament.
00:33:23.080They'll say you can vote how you want on this.
00:33:24.460But you always know the public, the voting public, always gets to know how their representatives vote so that they can then hold them to account.
00:33:34.400In Italy, conscience votes are secret.
00:33:41.780They're given the room to vote without the party machinery being able to tell them what to do.
00:33:47.620But there's no accountability to the people.
00:33:51.000I give way because I know you want to say something on this and then we'll move on to Hungary.
00:33:54.240But here's the point, both in the Italian system and in Hungary, and this is why I say Americans need to know this about their European democratic allies, both the President of the Republic in Italy and the President of the Republic in Hungary aren't elected by the people.
00:34:14.400They're elected effectively by the parliament totally in Hungary, in Italy by the parliament and with the representatives of the regions.
00:34:23.680But it's not a vote to the people, which is horrific.
00:34:28.520I think Americans would hear that and they'd be absolutely horrified.
00:34:31.660Just give me 30 seconds, a minute on your experience of two decade long experience of serving in parliament.
00:34:39.940and whether you think that is really the best way for an advanced, mature democracy
00:34:47.600to give members of parliament conscience votes to have them secret.
00:34:57.220The experience that you just talked about is the best experience
00:35:04.520because, you know, I think especially when a member of the parliament
00:35:08.820is facing a very crucial argument where his conscience is particularly touched by the
00:35:18.060argument or by some proposal of law, he should show his character.
00:35:26.840And it's the only way to show particularly and precisely in which values he believes.
00:35:35.600You know, and that's the reason because I always, I never asked in my political career in the Italian parliament when I was chairman of the Christian Democratic Group or in the Council of Europe, I never asked for having a secret ballot.
00:35:55.800because I'm very sure that anyone should present himself transparently with the electors
00:36:04.920and also take his responsibility to say, I believe in these values.
00:36:09.900I could not vote this proposal of law.
00:36:13.620Also, if I'm risking to be not re-elected in the same party where I was elected before.
00:36:22.080Because, if not, members of the parliament are only employed, or simply employed, of
00:36:31.080the chairman of the party without any responsibility, and in the end, also democracy is, in this
00:36:38.840way, is degradating and losing any appeal to the citizens to participate and to be represented
00:36:47.620by someone that has a strong character, you know?
00:36:52.080Luca, you know, listening to you talking here and explaining this, it comes to my mind, and I make this point, because there are people in the UK, and there are some people, less, I think, in the United States, that would like to move from the first past, the post system, to the proportional representation system.
00:37:13.460If you have a proportional representation system, which I don't support, and this is the consequence of that, and the way that the conscience vote is handled, the way that a conscience vote is handled is illustrative, I think, of the defects of proportional representation, which give effectively what in the first past the post is the power of accountability to the people, takes it from the people and gives it to the party machinery.
00:37:42.940and this is a very clear distinction of how that works out because in the italian system
00:37:49.580the conscience vote is dead secret and this is what i realized as i was listening to you talk
00:37:55.440on this now right the vote is secret because the conscience vote in italy is to give you
00:38:03.980the member of parliament discretion to vote according to their conscience free from the
00:38:10.380party machinery right that is how the conscience vote is it's to give you the the freedom to
00:38:16.580maneuver free from the party machinery that controls where you will be on the list at election
00:38:21.800time the conscience vote concept in in the uk is that it frees the the the the representative
00:38:32.220from the party machinery um allows them to vote according to their conscience but always
00:38:39.680in a way that is accountable to the people
00:45:55.180It might have something to do with the fact that Peter Magyar is a lot more open to the migrants and a lot more open to Ukraine than Viktor Orban.
00:46:04.060that you're the expert that's for sure for Ukraine because they may be the objection
00:46:15.060for incrementing the discussion between European Union and Ukraine to include Ukraine in the
00:46:23.460European Union in the next three, four, five years.
00:46:27.960The data was proposed by Orban for the last five years.
00:46:38.460No discussion, real discussion was done about this inclusion of Ukraine in the European