Constitutional change proposed to secure minority representation in Italian parliament

Rojc proposes amending Article 56 of the Italian Constitution to state that a law must determine ways of securing representation of the Slovenian minority in Friuli Venezia-Giulia region, Primorski Dnevnik reported on Monday.

Rojc said, according to the Slovenian minority paper, that now was the right time for such a move since senior representatives of the Democratic Party, of which she is a member, and of the Five Stars Movement are in favour of addressing this issue.

"And there is also support from Slovenian diplomacy," Rojc added, noting that this issue is always on the agenda of bilateral talks at the senior level.

Parliamentary representation is stipulated by Article 26 of the 2001 law on the protection of the Slovenian minority in Italy, which stipulates that Italy will make sure the community has representation in the lower and upper chambers of the Italian parliament.

So far leftist parties have helped by fielding Slovenian candidates in electable constituencies, but for a while now Italy has been considering an electoral reform that would reduce the number of representatives, making it even more difficult for ethnic Slovenians to win a parliamentary seat.