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‘Buon lavoro’: Italian prime minister congratulates US President Biden

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday said Italy "stands ready to face the challenges of our common international agenda together with the United States."

Published: 20 January 2021 17:58 CET
Updated: 20 January 2021 19:08 CET
'Buon lavoro': Italian prime minister congratulates US President Biden
US President Joe Biden delivers his inaugural address at the Capitol on January 20th, 2021. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
Following the inauguration on Wednesday of the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, and Vice-President Kamala Harris, Conte sent them his best wishes in facing the tasks ahead.
 
“Best wishes for your work to President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris,” Conte tweeted. “This is a great day for democracy, reaching far beyond the American borders.”
 
“Italy stands ready to face the challenges of our common international agenda together with the United States.”
 

 
The Italian phrase 'buon lavoro' is used to wish someone future success in their work.
 
Nicola Zingaretti, leader of the Democratic Party (PD) which forms part of Italy's ruling coalition government, wrote a letter of congratulations to President Biden on Wednesday in which he said he hoped the two countries could “work together to put the planet, people and prosperity at the centre”.
 
“Your announcement of the re-entry of the United States into the Paris agreement on climate change is excellent news,” Zingaretti wrote.
 
Pope Francis later on Wednesday evening urged new US President Joe Biden to promote “reconciliation and peace” around the world.
 
“At a time when the grave crises facing our human family call for far-sighted and united responses, I pray that your decisions will be guided by
a concern for building a society marked by authentic justice and freedom,” the pope said in a statement.

 
Kamala Harris is sworn in as US Vice President at the Capitol on January 20th, 2021. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
 
Italy's political leaders have not made any reference to former president Donald Trump in their responses to the US election results or Biden's inauguration.
 
Some European leaders, however, made their feelings about the end of Trump's presidency clear.
 
“Once again, after four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
 
“This new dawn in America is the moment we've been waiting for so long. Europe is ready for a new start with our oldest and most trusted partner,” she said at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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POLITICS

Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

The year 2024 is a bumper one for elections, among them the European elections in June. Italy is of course a member of the EU - so can foreign residents vote in the elections that will almost certainly affect their daily lives?

Published: 3 May 2024 15:25 CEST
Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

Across Europe, people will go to the polls in early June to select their representatives in the European Parliament, with 76 seats up for grabs in Italy. 

Although European elections usually see a much lower turnout than national elections, they are still seen as important by Italian politicians.

Giorgia Meloni will stand as a candidate this year, hoping use her personal popularity to give her Brothers of Italy party a boost and build on her success in Italy to “send the left into opposition” at the European level too.

When to vote

Across Italy, polling takes place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2024.

Polling stations will be set up in the same places as for national and local elections – usually town halls, leisure centres and other public buildings.

You have to vote at the polling station for the municipality in which you are registered as a resident, which should be indicated on your electoral card.

Polling stations open at 8am and mostly close at 6pm, although some stay open later.

Unlike in presidential or local elections, there is only a single round of voting in European elections.

Who can vote? 

Italian citizens – including dual nationals – can vote in European elections, even if they don’t live in Italy. As is common for Italian domestic elections, polling booths will be set up in Italian consulates around the world to allow Italians living overseas to vote.

Non-Italian citizens who are living in Italy can only vote if they have citizenship of an EU country. So for example Irish citizens living in Italy can vote in European elections but Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc. cannot.

Brits in Italy used to be able to vote before Brexit, but now cannot – even if they have the post-Brexit carta di soggiorno.

If you have previously voted in an election in Italy – either local or European – you should still be on the electoral roll.

If not, in order to vote you need to send an application more than 90 days before the election date.

How does the election work?

The system for European elections differs from most countries’ domestic polls. MEPs are elected once every five years.

Each country is given an allocation of MEPs roughly based on population size. At present there are 705 MEPs: Germany – the country in the bloc with the largest population – has the most while the smallest number belong to Malta with just six.

Italy, like most of its EU neighbours, elects its MEPs through direct proportional representation via the ‘list’ system, so that parties gain the number of MEPs equivalent to their share of the overall vote.

So, for example, if Meloni’s party won 50 percent of the vote they would get 38 out of the total of 76 Italian seats.

Exactly who gets to be an MEP is decided in advance by the parties who publish their candidate lists in priority order. So let’s say that Meloni’s party does get that 50 percent of the vote – then the people named from 1 to 38 on their list get to be MEPs, and the people lower down on the list do not, unless a candidate (for example, Meloni) declines the seat and passes it on to the next person on the list.

In the run up to the election, the parties decide on who will be their lead candidates and these people will almost certainly be elected (though Meloni would almost definitely not take up her seat as an MEP, as this would mean resigning from office in Italy).

The further down the list a name appears, the less likely that person is to be heading to parliament.

Once in parliament, parties usually seek to maximise their influence by joining one of the ‘blocks’ made up of parties from neighbouring countries that broadly share their interests and values eg centre-left, far-right, green.

The parliament alternates between Strasbourg and Brussels. 

Find out more about voting in the European elections from Italy on the European Parliament’s website or the Italian interior ministry’s website.

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