From now on, entertainment venues where music is played and large crowds gather will have to close at 3:00 a.m., and from 2:00 a.m. the sale of any alcoholic beverages will be prohibited. In all other establishments, such as pubs and beer halls, alcohol cannot be sold from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.
The idea itself is not new. At one time, the previous government of the left and centrists made similar proposals, but things did not go beyond gentleman's agreements between individual venues. The current government, however, has decided to go all the way. The goal is to put an end to the 'slaughter' that takes place on Italy's roads every weekend.
'I fully understand that this decision will spark a lively debate, but I believe that with so many victims of accidents, we cannot sit idly by,' says Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, trying to nip in the bud any controversy over the new law. The Council of Ministers has adopted the necessary law, which is intended to reduce the number of victims of 'Saturday night fever,' and the leader of the National Alliance party is confident that it will bring results.
Among the notable innovations is the mandatory closure at 3:00 a.m. of entertainment venues where there is a crowd and music is played. An hour before closing, the sale of alcohol will be prohibited. In addition, says the minister for parliamentary relations, Mr. Giovannardi, a moratorium on the sale of alcohol is established for the next two hours, i.e. until 5:00 a.m., in all other establishments. Discotheque owners will be required to reduce the intensity of psychedelic lighting so that young people who leave the disco and get behind the wheel have a higher level of alertness.
'The choice of closing time, uniform for all discos,' reports Minister Carlo Giovannardi, 'was made based on surveys conducted. Indeed, 90% of all respondents and 75% of young people who took part in the survey named exactly this time, because this will avoid cases where young people move from one establishment to another during a single night, which naturally leads to road accidents.'
Since 1992, Giovannardi said at a press conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, 5-6 thousand young people aged 18 to 25 have died in road accidents on Saturday evenings, 909 of them in the past year alone. To this number must be added tens of thousands of boys and girls who are injured and sometimes remain disabled for life.
Despite all its usefulness, this law will in any case be subject to monitoring. 'After adoption, its effectiveness will be verified,' the minister stated. 'If after a year we see that the number of deaths has decreased even by a few dozen, it will mean that the law is useful.'
Only a few hours after the law was passed, the first comments were heard. 'This is by no means a prudish law,' says Stefania Prestigiacomo, Minister for Equal Opportunities, 'the closing time for discos seems reasonable to me. Of course, the law could be improved, for example, by involving local authorities in organizing public transport to take young people home. In any case, it is not directed against the owners of establishments.'
The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Guido Bertolaso, also spoke positively about the law, stating: 'This is a measure that meets the need to act in the face of events that every weekend take the lives of too many young people.'
However, there were also numerous critical responses, both from politicians and from entertainment industry workers and various associations. 'This is outrageous, anti-liberal, and even directed against Berlusconi,' says Pierluigi Diaco, a DJ and journalist. 'I can't believe that a music lover like Berlusconi would agree with this law.'
It would be better, say Gianni De Michelis and Paolo Cento of the Green Party, to strengthen control in areas where discos are concentrated, with the involvement of law enforcement officers, or to completely ban the sale of alcohol, as the Consumer Society proposes.
One thing is clear - not everyone is satisfied. Entrepreneurs promise to fight for their rights. 'We will use all available means to prevent the violation of citizens' rights to free leisure, as well as the rights of companies, due to the obscurantism of individual politicians,' said Renato Giacchetto, a representative of the Entertainment Union, and Edi Sommariva, general director of the Confederation of Trade Enterprises.
Indeed, admitted Antonio Mazzocchi, a member of the National Alliance party, proper consultations were not held with organizations representing the entertainment industry when the new law was adopted. 'I hope that during the final adoption of the law, their comments will be taken into account in full accordance with the principles of the free market and without hysteria.'