Italian democracy faces dramatic changes as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pushes on with plans to rewrite the constitution — with opposition parties today seemingly unable to stop her.

The far-right leader’s central reform, called the “premierato,” is designed to grant more power to the prime minister’s office. If it passes, the head of government will be directly elected, but at the cost of weakening other democratic institutions including parliament. Critics call it a “vendetta” against the anti-fascist constitution written after World War II, which sought to avoid such a concentration of powers.

This isn’t the only change in the rules of Italian politics. This battle is accompanied by controversy over a bill passed on June 19 called DDL Autonomia. It grants regional governments unprecedented independence, at the expense of national unity and indeed the principle of granting equal services to all citizens. It speaks the language of “differentiated autonomy”: the possibility for each part of Italy to move at its own speed. In doing so, the law will privilege richer Northern regions like Lombardy and Veneto against poorer Southern ones.