ROME: Two of Italy’s wealthiest regions were drawing up plans on Monday to claw back power and money from Rome after a victory for autonomy campaigners that could deepen divisions in Europe.

Over 95 per cent of voters who flocked to the polls in the Veneto and Lombardy regions, home to Venice and Milan, supported a mandate to negotiate a better deal with the Italian capital.

Turnout was higher than expected and the results should not be underestimated in the context of the crisis created by Catalonia’s push for independence, analysts warned.

Voter participation stood at 57 per cent in Veneto and nearly 39 per cent in Lombardy.

Both regions are run by the Northern League (LN) party, which was once openly secessionist but has lately shifted its focus to run on an anti-euro ticket in the hope of expanding its influence into the south.

The leaders of the two regions, which contribute up to 30 per cent of Italy’s GDP, will now embark on negotiations with the central government on the devolution of powers and tax revenues from Rome.

Once the terms are agreed, they will need a green light from parliament in a process that could take up to a year.

Veneto leader Luca Zaia said the regional council, which was meeting on Monday, was aiming to get Rome to agree it could keep ninety percent of taxes, rather than handing them over to a capital it has long accused of waste.

“More than five million people voted for change. We all want less waste, fewer taxes, less bureaucracy, fewer state and EU constraints, more efficiency, more employment and more security,” said LN head Matteo Salvini.

Secessionist sentiment in Veneto and Lombardy is restricted to fringe groups but analysts see the autonomy drive as reflecting the same cocktail of issues and pressures that resulted in Scotland’s narrowly-defeated independence vote, Britain’s decision to leave the EU and the Catalan crisis. “Lombardy is not Catalonia, nor indeed is the Veneto, but the revival of the autonomist flame here takes place in a Europe which tends towards fragmentation and closing in on itself,” Italian political commentator Stefano Folli said.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017