Rift opens within govt over statute of limitations

Rome, January 16 - Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede said Matteo Renzi was isolated within the ruling coalition after the ex-premier's Italia Viva (IV) party broke ranks over changes to the statute of limitations. IV sided with the opposition centre right on Wednesday in a vote on a bill seeking to overturn a reform drafted by Bonafede, a member of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), that puts the statute of limitations on ice after a first-instance court ruling. The aim of Bonafede's reform is to stop offenders getting off thanks to their lawyers' ability to draw out proceedings until the statute of limitations kicks in. But the centre right and IV say that there is a risk of people getting embroiled in never-ending trials and the slow pace of Italy's justice system getting worse. The M5S and Renzi's former group, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), narrowly managed to defeat the bill presented by a member of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party in a vote in a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. "I take note of the fact that Italia Viva has isolated itself within the ruling majority by voting with Forza Italia and the opposition parties," Bonafede told Radio Capital. "The proposal to abolish the (changes to) the statute of limitations did not get through. "We stopped FI and the centre right. "My job is to give citizens a reform that makes it possible for them to have criminal trials in reasonable time-frames". The M5S and the PD were fierce rivals when Renzi was head of the latter. But they formed an alliance last year after League leader Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on Premier Giuseppe Conte's first government, which was based on a M5S-Legaue coalition. Renzi, who subsequently formed his own group that pledged to continue to support the second government, on Thursday defended Italia Viva's conduct. "We didn't break the ruling majority, we just defended the rule of law," Renzi said on Facebook. "We will continue to do so, including without the permission of the populists - new populists and old populists. "We formed a government together to send Salvini packing, not to turn into the M5S". Photo: Matteo Renzi