The Legislature XVIII of Italy started on 23 March 2018 and is the current legislature of the Italian Parliament. The composition of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate is the one resulting from the 4 March 2018 election, called after the dissolution of the Parliament announced by PresidentSergio Mattarella on 28 December 2017. The members of this legislature have on average the lowest age in the history of the Italian Republic: 44.33 years old in the Chamber of Deputies and 52.12 in the Senate. This legislature has also the largest number of new MPs and the highest percentage of women in Italian history.
*President of the Council of Ministers: Giuseppe Conte
*Composition of the government: M5S, PD, IV, LeU
Composition
Chamber of Deputies
The number of elected deputies is 630. However, due to resignations, deaths or office incompatibilities, the number of deputies might be lower during the periods in which substitutes are picked.
In this legislature the number of elected Senators was 314, instead of the usual 315: in the Sicily constituency the total number of assigned seats to the M5S exceeded the number of candidates in the party's list. Including the six life senators, the total number of senators was therefore 320. On 31 July 2019, the Senate commission on elections finalized a decision about the missing seat in Sicily, assigning it to the M5S. The total number of senators is currently 321.
President: Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, elected on 24 March 2018
Dignity decree, approved on 7 August 2018. The bill imposed additional limits on the temporary employment contracts, issued fines on companies which received government aid and decide to relocate abroad, and banned advertising of gambling operators.
Security decree, or Salvini decree, approved on 28 November 2018. Strongly pushed by then Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, the bill involves measures regarding public safety and immigration. The new legislation abolished the status of humanitarian protection, extended the period of immigration detention in the Italian identification centres, increased funding for repatriation, extended the list of crimes that imply a nullification of refugee or protection status, and introduced the possibility of canceling the Italian citizenship acquired by a foreigner citizen in case they committed a terrorism-related crime.
Anti-corruption bill, also known as "Spazza-corrotti", approved on 18 December 2018. The bill increased the punishment and introduced a ban from public service for officers convicted for corruption, reformed the statute of limitations by expanding the time span for prescription, and included new rules for the regulation of political party funding.
2019 budget law, approved on 30 December 2018. The bill introduced new taxes on web-based businesses and a strategy to drive up government revenues by selling public properties. The 2019 budget included a target deficit of 2.04% of the GDP, meeting the requests of the European Commission after a first proposal of 2.4%.
Citizens' income and "quota 100" decree, approved on 27 March 2019. The bill introduced a means-tested "citizens' income" to support poor families of up to 780 euros per month for a single unemployed person, and up to 1032 euros per month for a family. The bill also lowered the age of retirement based on the "100 quota": workers can retire when the sum of their age and their pension contribution years adds up to 100.
Right of self-defense decree, approved on 28 March 2019. The bill introduced limitations to legal action against persons who attack an intruder, legitimating the self-defense also in case of "perceived" threat.
Economic growth decree, approved on 27 June 2019. After two consecutive quarters of negative national growth, the government passed a bill introducing various tax cuts and investment boosts.
Security decree – bis, approved on 5 August 2019. The bill covers mainly two topics: migrant rescue at sea, and public order management during demonstrations. The bill allowed the Interior Minister to limit or forbid the passage of ships in national waters for security and public-order reasons, and issued sanctions up to 1 million euros and possibly the seizure of the vessel against the ship captains who violate this law. Regarding public order management, the bill introduces harsher punishments for the usage of rockets, petards, sticks, bats, and helmets during demonstrations, and for the interruption of a public service.
Constitutional law – Reduction of the number of MPs, approved on 8 October 2019. The constitutional law reduces the size of the two houses of Parliament, from 630 to 400 in the Chamber of Deputies and from 315 to 200 in the Senate.
Climate decree, approved on 10 December 2019. The bill is the first step of the government proposed "Green New Deal" plan; it introduced incentives for reducing the use of plastic packaging by shopkeepers, and incentives to car, moped or scooter drivers to use public transport in their cities.
2020 budget law, approved on 24 December 2019. This budget law was the first of the Conte II cabinet, and introduced tax cuts and a crack-down on tax evasion. The budget keeps the Italian deficit for 2020 at 2.2% of the GDP, and introduced safeguard clauses in order to keep the 2021 deficit at 1.8%, like the previously planned target agreed with the European Commission.
