Italy’s Cabinet passed an emergency decree yesterday to phase out state financing of political parties in response to public anger over the cost of the country’s electoral apparatus.

Legislation to abolish state funding was presented by Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s government in May, but the Bill got bogged down in parliamentary bickering, fuelling the perception that the parties really wanted to preserve the status quo.

The decree, which must be approved by Parliament within 60 days or it will expire, reiterates the original proposal to gradually replace the current system with financing by private citizens by 2017.

The popularity of Italy’s political parties has been eroded by decades of wasteful spending and corruption. The plan to stop funding them with taxpayers’ money has wide support.

The decision to give the plan another push is likely tied to this week’s election of Florence’s mayor Matteo Renzi as the new leader of Letta’s Democratic Party (PD) in a primary vote.

Renzi’s rise in popularity over the past two years has been linked to his stinging criticism of the old PD leadership and its dependence on public funding, which he has repeatedly said should be abolished.

A referendum to scrap party financing was overwhelmingly passed in 1993 but its outcome was substantially ignored.

The previous form of direct financing was replaced with generous reimbursements of money parties spent in election campaigns.