(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 8 - The leader of opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) Elly Schlein said Thursday her party would be "cooperative" on the bill approved by government on Wednesday clamping down on gender-based violence, defining the phenomenon as a "scourge".
    "We have already presented a number of legislative proposals" on gender-based violence and "we will continue to carry them forward, to be cooperative and to stimulate (discussion): gender violence is a scourge," Schlein told reporters at the PD headquarters in Rome.
    The new proposals from the government come after a recent string of headline-grabbing of femicides in Italy and aim to "interrupt the cycle of violence" and to "act promptly and effectively", according to Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella.
    The package includes new restraining orders and heightened surveillance on men guilty of domestic violence, among other things.
    It also boosts the emergency gender violence hotline.
    According to official figures, femicides are up significantly this year while the overall homicide rate has dropped.
    Late last month a man killed his seven-month pregnant partner near Milan after she objected to his affair with another woman, while in Rome a woman police officer was shot dead by a colleague she had had a relationship with, after which he shot himself. (ANSA).