The Italian Senate Justice Commission passed an amendment to stiffen penalties for corruption that triggered much tension between coalition majority and opposition forces on Thursday.
A comprehensive anti-corruption package is currently being discussed within the Senate committee and is expected to reach the assembly for approval next week.
It would introduce tougher measures against bribery and corruption, and other related crimes such as vote trading, false accounting fraud, and money laundering.
The specific provision approved by the Senate committee on Wednesday increased the minimum and maximum penalties for corruption from 4 to 6 years and from 8 to 10 years in jail, respectively, as proposed by the cabinet.
The move stirred up a fierce clash between the majority supporting Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government and some opposition parties.
Former premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia (FI) especially opposed the increase of the minimum penalties for corruption.
Francesco Nitto Palma, FI member and also head of the Senate committee, said the new provision would bring about "an element of irrationality to the whole penal sanctionatory system", since ordinary corruption would be punished more severely than other major crimes such as judiciary corruption.
However, Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando confirmed to State Rai TV the whole package "will reach the Senate assembly next week and will be approved".
In an anti-corruption meeting at the Lower House last week, Orlando also explained that "the set of rules being developed by the government against corruption is part of a wider justice system reform aimed (together with other reforms) at reviving the country".
Most of the coalition forces, and especially Renzi's center-left Democratic party (PD), overall accused FI of filibustering the justice committee's works to delay the approval of the package by the Senate.
Tension between PD and FI has indeed increased since early February, after Berlusconi called an end to a major pact on constitutional reforms struck with Renzi last year.
Berlusconi's party complained the prime minister had in fact broken the "spirit" of that pact when he failed to consult with them over the choice of Sergio Mattarella as new Italian president.
After these events, the works on the anti-corruption package have visibly slowed down. The new draft measures came in reaction to recent high-profile scandals over alleged corruption in the public sector at local and national level.
Corruption and bribery cost Italy some 60 billion euros (67 billion U.S. dollars) per year, according to a European Union (EU) report that cited the Italian Court of Auditors.
Italy had already passed a new anti-corruption law in November 2012, which introduced the new offences of induced bribery, dealings in unlawful influences, and private bribery, and also a new National Anti-Corruption Authority.
