Legislature IV of Italy

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Legislature IV of Italy

IV legislatura della Repubblica Italiana
4th legislature
Type
Type
Houses Chamber of Deputies
Senate of the Republic
History
Founded16 May 1963 (1963-05-16)
Disbanded4 June 1968 (1968-06-04) (5 years, 19 days)
Preceded by III Legislature
Succeeded by V Legislature
Leadership
Cesare Merzagora, Ind
(16 May 1963 – 7 November 1967)
Ennio Zelioli-Lanzini, DC
(8 November 1967 – 4 June 1968)
Giovanni Leone, DC
(16 May 1963 – 21 June 1963)
Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci, DC
(26 June 1963 – 4 June 1968)
Structure
Seats630 (C)
315+ (S)
Italian Chamber of Deputies 1963.svg
Chamber of Deputies political groups
  •   DC (260)
  •   PCI (166)
  •   PSI (87)
  •   PLI (39)
  •   PSDI (33)
  •   MSI (27)
  •   PDIUM (8)
  •   PRI (6)
  •   Others (4)
Italian Senate 1963.svg
Senate political groups
Elections
Proportional
Proportional
Last general election
28 April 1963
Meeting place
Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome (C)
Palazzo Madama, Rome (S)
Website
Fourth Legislature – Chamber of Deputies
Fourth Legislature – Senate
Constitution
Constitution of Italy

The Legislature IV of Italy (Italian : IV Legislatura della Repubblica Italiana) was the 4th legislature of the Italian Republic, and lasted from 16 May 1963 until 4 June 1968. [1] [2] Its composition was the one resulting from the general election of 28 April 1963.

Contents

Main chronology

Despite a good approval in public opinion, late Fanfani's reformist policy produced a significant mistrust of the Italian industrial class and the right-wing faction of the Christian Democracy (DC).

In the 1963 general election, the Christian Democrats lost almost one million votes, gaining nearly 38%, while the Communists arrived second with 25%. [3] However the liberals surged to 7%, their best results ever, receiving many votes from former Christian Democratic supporters, who were against Fanfani's centre-left policies. With the decline of electoral support, the majority of DC members decided to replace Fanfani with a provisional government (also defined "governo balneare", literarily "seaside government", by many journalists) led by impartial President of the Chamber of Deputies, Giovanni Leone. [4] When the congress of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) in autumn that year authorized a full engagement of the party into the government, Leone resigned and Aldo Moro became the new Prime Minister. [5]

Aldo Moro's government was unevenly supported by the DC, but also by the PSI, along with the minor Italian Republican Party (PRI) and Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI). The coalition was also known as Organic Centre-left and was characterized by consociationalist and social corporatist tendencies. [6]

Moro I Cabinet sworn in at the Quirinal Palace in front of President Antonio Segni on 4 December 1963 Governo Moro I - 19 dicembre 1963.jpg
Moro I Cabinet sworn in at the Quirinal Palace in front of President Antonio Segni on 4 December 1963

During Moro's premiership, a wide range of social reforms were carried out. The 1967 Bridge Law (Legge Ponte) introduced urgent housing provisions as part of an envisioned reform of the entire sector, such as the introduction of minimum standards for housing and environment. [7] A reform, promulgated on 14 December 1963, introduced an annual allowance for university students with income below a given level. Another law, promulgated on 10 March 1968, introduced voluntary public pre-elementary education for children aged three to five years. While a bill, approved on 21 July 1965, extended the program of social security. [8] Moreover, the legal minimum wage was raised, all current pensions were revalued, seniority pensions were introduced (after 35 years of contributions workers could retire even before attaining pensionable age), and within the Social Security National Institute (INPS), a Social Fund (Fondo Sociale) was established, ensuring to all members pensioners a basic uniform pension largely financed by state, known as the "social pension". [9] A law, approved on 22 July 1966, extended social security insurance to small traders, while law of 22 July 1966 extended health insurance to retired traders. Another important reform was implemented with a bill, approved on 29 May 1967, which extended compulsory health insurance to retired farmers, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers, and extended health insurance to the unemployed in receipt of unemployment benefits. [10] Moreover, a law of 5 November 1968 extended family allowances to the unemployed who received unemployment benefits. [11]

On 25 June 1964, the government was beaten on the budget law for the Italian Ministry of Education concerning the financing of private education, and on the same day Moro resigned. The right-wing Christian Democratic President of Italy, Antonio Segni, during the presidential consultations for the formation of a new cabinet, asked the socialist leader Pietro Nenni to exit from the government majority. [12]

On 16 July, Segni sent the Carabinieri general, Giovanni De Lorenzo, to a meeting of representatives of DC, to deliver a message in case the negotiations around the formation of a new centre-left government would fail. According to some historians, De Lorenzo reported that President Segni was ready to give a subsequent mandate to the President of the Senate Cesare Merzagora, asking him of forming a "president's government", composed by all the conservative forces in the Parliament. [13] [14] Moro, on the other hand, managed to form another centre-left majority. During the negotiations, Nenni had accepted the downsizing of his reform programs and, on 17 July, Moro went to the Quirinal Palace, with the acceptance of the assignment and the list of ministers of his second government. [15]

In August 1964, President Segni suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage and resigned after a few months. [16] In December presidential election, Moro and his majority tried to elect a leftist politician at the Quirinal Palace. On the twenty-first round of voting, the leader of the PSDI and former President of the Constituent Assembly Giuseppe Saragat was elected president. Saragat was the first left-wing politician to become President of the Republic. [17] [18]

Despite the opposition by Segni and other prominent rightist Christian Democrats, the centre-left coalition, the first one for the Italian post-war political life, stayed in power for nearly five years, until the 1968 general election, which was characterised by a defeat for DC's centre-left allies. [19]

Presidential election

On 16 December 1964 the Parliament met to elect the fourth President of Italy. On 28 December 1964 the democratic socialist Giuseppe Saragat was elected on the twenty-first ballot with 646 votes out of 927.

Government

Prime MinisterPartyTerm of officeGovernmentComposition
Took officeLeft office
Giovanni Leone 1963.jpg Giovanni Leone
(1908–2001)
Christian Democracy 21 June 19634 December 1963 Leone I DC
(with PSDI, PRI and PSI's external support)
Aldo Moro 1968.jpg Aldo Moro
(1916–1978)
Christian Democracy 4 December 196322 July 1964 Moro I DC   PSI   PSDI   PRI
( Organic Centre-left )
22 July 196423 February 1966 Moro II
23 February 196624 June 1968 Moro III

Parliamentary composition

Chamber of Deputies

Giovanni Leone 1963.jpg
Brunetto Bucciarelli Ducci.jpg
Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies: Giovanni Leone (1963) and Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci (1963–1968)
Parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Deputies
Initial composition [20]
(16 May 1963)
Final composition [20]
(4 June 1968)
Parliamentary groupSeatsParliamentary groupSeatsChange
Christian Democracy 260 Christian Democracy 259Decrease2.svg 1
Italian Communist Party 166 Italian Communist Party 166Steady2.svg
Italian Socialist Party 87 Unified Socialist Party 94Decrease2.svg 26
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 33
Italian Liberal Party 39 Italian Liberal Party 37Decrease2.svg 2
Italian Social Movement 27 Italian Social Movement 26Decrease2.svg 1
Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 8 Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 8Steady2.svg
Italian Republican Party 6 Italian Republican Party 5Decrease2.svg 1
Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 24Increase2.svg 24
Mixed4Mixed11Increase2.svg 7
Südtiroler Volkspartei 3 Südtiroler Volkspartei 3Steady2.svg
Union Valdôtaine 1 Union Valdôtaine 1Steady2.svg
Independent–Non inscrits7Increase2.svg 7
Total seats630Total seats630Steady2.svg

    Senate of the Republic

    Cesare Merzagora.jpg
    Ennio Zelioli Lanzini.jpg
    Presidents of the Senate: Cesare Merzagora (1963–1967) and Ennio Zelioli-Lanzini (1967–1968)
    Parliamentary groups in the Senate of the Republic
    Initial composition [21]
    (16 May 1963)
    Final composition [21]
    (4 June 1968)
    Parliamentary groupSeatsParliamentary groupSeatsChange
    Christian Democracy 133 Christian Democracy 129Decrease2.svg 3
    Italian Communist Party 84 Italian Communist Party 84Steady2.svg
    Italian Socialist Party 44 Unified Socialist Party 43Decrease2.svg 15
    Italian Democratic Socialist Party 14
    Italian Liberal Party 18 Italian Liberal Party 18Steady2.svg
    Italian Social Movement 15 Italian Social Movement 14Decrease2.svg 1
    Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity 10Increase2.svg 10
    Mixed7Mixed16Increase2.svg 9
    Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 2 Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity 2Steady2.svg
    Südtiroler Volkspartei 2 Südtiroler Volkspartei 2Steady2.svg
    Union Valdôtaine 1 Union Valdôtaine 1Steady2.svg
    Social Christian Sicilian Union 1 Social Christian Sicilian Union 1Steady2.svg
    Independents – Non inscrits3Independents – Non inscrits12Increase2.svg 9
    Total seats315Total seats315Steady2.svg

    Senators for Life

    SenatorMotivationAppointed byFromTill
    Umberto Zanotti Bianco Merits in the artistic and social fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi Previous legislature28 August 1963 (deceased)
    Giuseppe Paratore Merits in the social fieldPresident Giovanni Gronchi Previous legislature26 February 1967 (deceased)
    Giovanni Gronchi Former President of Italy ex officio [ broken anchor ]Previous legislatureNext legislature
    Cesare Merzagora Merits in the social fieldPresident Antonio Segni Previous legislatureNext legislature
    Ferruccio Parri Merits in the social fieldPresident Antonio SegniPrevious legislatureNext legislature
    Meuccio Ruini Merits in the social and scientific fieldPresident Antonio SegniPrevious legislatureNext legislature
    Antonio Segni Former President of Italy ex officio [ broken anchor ]6 December 1964Next legislature
    Vittorio Valletta Merits in the social fieldPresident Giuseppe Saragat 28 November 196610 August 1967 (deceased)
    Eugenio Montale Merits in the literary fieldPresident Giuseppe Saragat13 June 1967Next legislature
    Giovanni Leone Merits in the social fieldPresident Giuseppe Saragat27 August 1967Next legislature

    References

    1. "Camera dei Deputati – 4ª Legislatura". www.storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
    2. "Senato della Repubblica – 4ª Legislatura". www.senato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
    3. Elezioni del 1963, Ministero dell'Interno
    4. I Governo Leone, camera.it
    5. I Governo Moro, governo.it
    6. Sabattini, Gianfranco (28 November 2011). "Cinquant'anni fa nasceva il centrosinistra poi arrivarono i 'nani' della politica". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
    7. Legge "Ponte" n. 765/1967 del 6 agosto 1967 (GU n. 218 del 31-8-1967), Studio Tecnico Pagliai
    8. "Il centrosinistra e le riforme degli anni '60". 22 January 2018.
    9. "Il centro-sinistra e i governi Moro – Istituto Luigi Sturzo". old.sturzo.it. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
    10. La svolta di Aldo Moro: i governi di centrosinistra, Il Giornale
    11. Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II Volume 4 edited by Peter Flora.
    12. Indro Montanelli, Storia d'Italia Vol. 10, RCS Quotidiani, Milan, 2004, page 379-380.
    13. Gianni Flamini, L'Italia dei colpi di Stato, Newton Compton Editori, Rome, page 82.
    14. Sergio Romano, Cesare Merzagora: uno statista contro I partiti, in: Corriere della Sera, 14 marzo 2005.
    15. Governo Moro II, governo.it
    16. Segni, uomo solo tra sciabole e golpisti, Il Fatto Quotidiano
    17. Tempers Flare as Italian Parliament Fails to Elect New President, Retrospective Blog
    18. I Presidenti – Giuseppe Saragat, Camera dei Deputati
    19. Elezioni del 1968, Ministero dell'Interno
    20. 1 2 "IV Legislatura della Repubblica italiana / Legislature / Camera dei deputati – Portale storico". storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
    21. 1 2 "senato.it – Composizione dei gruppi parlamentari nella IV Legislatura". www.senato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 7 February 2021.