Adnkronos Rome, March 25 (Adnkronos) – "After centuries in which children took their father's surname, we establish that they will only take their mother's surname". Dario Franceschini launches the proposal via social media after having announced it this morning at the Assembly of the Democratic Party group in the Senate. "I will present a bill", said the former minister. A "personal initiative" on which "I do not commit the group", he specified, explaining that he sees it as a sort of "compensation for a centuries-old injustice".
That is, the surname 'inherited' only from the father.
Currently in the Senate, some proposals are being discussed in the Justice Committee on the very subject of surnames. "Instead of creating endless problems with the management of double surnames - the Franceschini proposal - we establish that from the new law they will only take the mother's surname. It is a simple thing and also compensation for a centuries-old injustice that has had not only a symbolic value but has been one of the cultural sources of gender inequality". A 'simple thing', argues the former minister, yet capable of creating controversy. The center-right is critical, perplexity in the 5 Star Movement and also in the PD itself among Catholics and those who, off the record, would have preferred to keep the spotlight on today between the government's Irpef mess and the issue of Italian salaries 'certified' by the Oil as the lowest among all the G20 countries. A topic on which Secretary Elly Schlein intervened clearly: "The last ones without appeal and the Meloni government has not lifted a finger" neither on the contracts side nor on the minimum wage proposal.
It is the majority that highlights the 'gap' between current events and the issue raised by Franceschini. Matteo Salvini writes on social media: "Here are the great priorities of the Italian left: instead of double surnames, take away the father's surname from children! Of course, let's wipe these fathers off the face of the earth, that way we'll solve all the problems... But where do they think of these brilliant ideas?". And Carlo Calenda asks: "Don't we have any other priorities? I don't know".
Several members of the Democratic Party are instead supporting the former minister, from Laura Boldrini to Valeria Valente and Anna Rossomando, who is the Democrats' rapporteur for the law on double surnames: "Today, finally, a male voice has confirmed that for centuries there has been a sort of invisibility of women, with the attribution of only the father's surname", says Rossomando. Luana Zanella of Avs also agrees, even if she admits that the bill would have a difficult life: "It is an interesting and shareable proposal, it certainly looks far ahead. Given the difficulty we had in passing the double surname, the maternal and paternal one, we can imagine the difficult path of this proposal. In any case, I will evaluate whether to present it to the Chamber as well".
While Stefano Lepri, a Catholic and member of the Democratic Party Board, does not agree with Franceschini's proposal: "The father's surname given to children is not an outdated legacy of the patriarchy, but rather the first way to prevent men from limiting themselves to their reproductive function, leaving the task of maintaining and raising their children entirely to women. The various proposals on children's surnames cannot forget the crucial importance of making men responsible - publicly and from birth - in their duty to truly be fathers".
And for constitutionalist Cesare Mirabelli, the bill would have a difficult life even from a constitutional point of view. "It lends itself to the same criticisms of illegitimacy that concerned the obligation to pass on to children only the paternal surname. An inequality - he tells Adnkronos - cannot be remedied by reversing it and introducing another. The Franceschini bill will be open to criticism and challenged for constitutional illegitimacy if it ever reaches the finish line. But I believe that probably already in the legislative process after the Constitutional Affairs Committee evaluates its constitutionality from a political perspective, the bill will be blocked. It will not reach the Chamber".