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Agence France-Presse

Two of Italy’s wealthiest regions were drawing up plans Monday to claw back power and money from Rome after a victory for autonomy campaigners that could deepen divisions in Europe.
Over 95 per cent of voters who flocked to the polls in the Veneto and Lombardy regions, home to Venice and Milan, supported a mandate to negotiate a better deal with the Italian capital.
Turnout was higher than expected and the results should not be underestimated in the context of the crisis created by Catalonia’s push for independence, analysts warned.
Voter participation stood at 57 per cent in Veneto and nearly 39 per cent in Lombardy.
Both regions are run by the Northern League (LN) party, which was once openly secessionist but has lately shifted its focus to run on an anti-euro ticket in the hope of expanding its influence into the south.

The leaders of the two regions, which contribute up to 30 per cent of Italy’s GDP, will now embark on negotiations with the central government on the devolution of powers and tax revenues from Rome.
Once the terms are agreed, they will need a green light from parliament in a process that could take up to a year.
Veneto leader Luca Zaia said the regional council, which was meeting Monday, was aiming to get Rome to agree it could keep 90 per cent of taxes, rather than handing them over to a capital it has long accused of waste.


“More than five million people voted for change. We all want less waste, fewer taxes, less bureaucracy, fewer state and EU constraints, more efficiency, more employment and more security,” said LN head Matteo Salvini.
He said the party was committed to winning greater autonomy for all regions up and down the country.
Secessionist sentiment in Veneto and Lombardy is restricted to fringe groups but analysts see the autonomy drive as reflecting the same cocktail of issues and pressures that resulted in Scotland’s narrowly-defeated independence vote, Britain’s decision to leave the EU and the Catalan crisis.

“Lombardy is not Catalonia, nor indeed is the Veneto, but the revival of the autonomist flame here takes place in a Europe which tends towards fragmentation and closing in on itself,” Italian political commentator Stefano Folli said.
Economist Lorenzo Codogno, a former senior official in the finance ministry, said the ‘Yes’ victory would likely “add to the sense of uneasiness in Europe”.
“Following the populist wave, now Europe has also to face a nationalist/regionalist wave, which somewhat overlaps with the populist one, and makes European integration even more difficult,” he added.
And Folli evoked the fear in Italy that the results, which “captured a growing divide between the North and South”, could aggravate deeply rooted antipathies that predate the country’s unification in the 19th century.


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Italy

Autonomy wave hits Italy, as two richest regions claim overwhelming victories in self-determination referendums

President of Italy’s Veneto region Luca Zaia speaks with journalists as he waits the results of Veneto's autonomy referendum in Venice on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Picture taken on October 19, 2017, shows a banner announcing a referendum in Italy's northern region of Veneto to request more autonomy from central government, seen inside a vaporetto, the Venetian public transport, in the Gran Canal in front of St Mark square. The consultative votes are only the beginning of a process which could, over time, lead to powers being devolved from Rome. Secessionist sentiment in the two wealthy northern regions is restricted to fringe groups with little following. / AFP PHOTO / ANDREA PATTARO

Lombardy Region President Roberto Maroni arrives for a press conference at the Lombardy Region headquarters, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Oct.22, 2017. Voters in the wealthy northern Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto went to the polls for a non-biding referendum over the question if they want to seek greater autonomy from Rome, riding a tide of self-determination that is sweeping global politics. Both regions are run by the anti-migrant, anti-Europe Northern League, which has long given up its founding goal of secession as it seeks a national profile. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Spain moves to direct rule over Catalonia to thwart its bid for independence

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, centre, leaves a military parade. Spain is moving closer to imposing direct rule against Catalonia over its attempt to win independence. Photo: AP

A man stages a performance at Sant Jaume square in Barcelona, Spain, October 16, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Spain activates untapped law to seize control over Catalonia, dissolve parliament and ‘restore order’

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said his government had no choice after the administration of Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont held a banned independence referendum in the northeastern region. Photo: Reuters

Six reasons why Catalonia is no model for Taiwan’s independence movement

Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, gestures while taking part in the National Day ceremony in Taipei on Wednesday. The previous day, she pledged to bolster the island's military but said Taiwan would not seek war with mainland China. Photo: AFP

Iraqi Kurds take part in a demonstration at Arbil airport, in the capital of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region, after the central government ordered the indefinite halt to all foreign flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan on September 29, 2017. Iraq's government cut the autonomous northern Kurdish region's direct air links with the outside world indefinitely after it voted a massive "yes" in a referendum on independence. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED

epa06235478 Chinese People's Liberation Army honor guards carry flowers arrangements during the flower-basket-laying ceremony for the monument to the people's heroes ahead of National Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, 30 September 2017. China celebrates its National Day on 01 October, marking its 68th founding anniversary. EPA-EFE/WU HONG

(171014) -- BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping (C), Li Keqiang (3rd R), Zhang Dejiang (3rd L), Yu Zhengsheng (2nd R), Liu Yunshan (2nd L), Wang Qishan (1st R) and Zhang Gaoli (1st L) attend the Seventh Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in Beijing, capital of China. The plenum was held from Oct. 11 to 14 in Beijing.  (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng) (zkr)

epa06229388 A handout photo made available by Taiwan's Cabinet on 27 September 2017 shows Taiwan's new premier William Lai making his first parliament speech in Taipei, Taiwan, 26 September 2017. During his speech, Lai said that he advocates Taiwan's independence and that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan and mainland China, are not subordinate to each other. On 27 September, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, warned Taiwan of any separatist moves, stating that the cross-Strait relationship is not a country-to-country relationship and that Taiwan is as an inseparable part of China, showing firm opposition to remarks and moves that support Taiwan's independence. EPA-EFE/TAIWAN CAIBNET HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Catalan National Assembly (ANC) president Jordi Sanchez (C), and Pro-independence Catalan Omnium cultural language association president Jordi Cuixart (L), who are under investigation for sedition, wave as they arrive at the High Court in Madrid on October 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS

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Lombardy and Veneto are not seeking independence, but want to seize some tax-raising powers from Rome


Autonomy wave hits Italy, as two richest regions claim overwhelming victories in self-determination referendums

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lombardy and Veneto are not seeking independence, but want to seize some tax-raising powers from Rome

Lombardy and Veneto are not seeking independence, but want to seize some tax-raising powers from Rome