La Russa, animals in the Senate? I’m not against it

“Dogs, cats, birds. Why not, even goats. It’s a joke”. Joke but not too much Ignatius LaRussa. The president of the Senate talks about the proposal – sponsored by him – to allow pets access to Palazzo Madama. “As an animal lover, I gave the quaestors the task of examining this hypothesis,” he announces. But he assures: “Anyway, I leave my dogs at home. We just need to go to Palazzo Madama with the dogs”.

Interviewed with Aria che tira, on La7, the president of the Senate recounts the origin of the proposal: “First Brambilla – he explains – then my friend Biancofiore urged me to examine this hypothesis of bringing pets outside the Chamber, but in the offices”, he guarantees. The two senators, both elected from the ranks of the centre-right, have in recent days explored the possibility of including in the Senate regulation the possibility of bringing pets inside the Palace, which is currently not permitted. An initiative that has met with the favor of La Russa, who is now moving forward so that the proposal is brought to the attention of the Presidential Council.

In recent days, Biancofiore said that it is “unacceptable that pets can enter anywhere but not in the offices of those who write the laws, including the reform that included the protection of animals in the Constitution”. Incredible but true, the issue has opened a small fault line within the centre-right, with the Northern League senator Laura Ravetto who called it “curious” that we are discussing “allowing cats and dogs into Parliament” when “as a mother, I can’t let my 5-year-old daughter in if by chance the babysitter is sick or can’t”.