
Reformist Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has called a Constitutional Referendum scheduled for Dec 4, set to expedite the notoriously slow and gridlocked Italian legislative process. Renzi affirms the reforms will expedite change and create a more active government better prepared to tackle Italy’s main problems: economic stagnation, youth unemployment, widespread corruption, and the migrant crisis. Critics suspect the referendum will increase the powers of the Prime Minister, as well as limit the influence of Italian voters. However, it is not the referendum itself, but the man who proposed it, that Italians are likely to vote on.