Draghi does not extend the state of emergency but special laws remain in force
The confirmation: the Green Pass is here to stay (from March 31st only reduced the use of the super version, the vaccine version). If in April any type, basic or super, will be in force for restaurants, hotels etc, goodbye to the summer tourist season …
Do not be fooled by the pontifical "annuntio vobis gaudium magnum" pronounced yesterday by the President of the Draghi Council during an "empathy tour" in Florence. What appears to be the announcement of a gradual return to normality is actually the confirmation of the permanent state of exception, even without a health emergency.
It is not the government's intention to extend the state of emergency beyond March 31, Draghi announced. An important point to understand is that, as we have repeatedly stressed, restrictive measures – such as the Green Pass , closures or quarantines – are not legally bound to a state of emergency. In our legal system there is not even a real state of emergency, which authorizes the suspension of the constitutionally protected freedoms and which attributes "special powers" to the government. The state of emergency exists at an "administrative" level, so much so that the law provides for it to be approved by the Council of Ministers, not by Parliament, and is provided for by the civil protection code to make the activities of Civil Protection and commissioner structures more agile , allowing them to operate in derogation, for example, from the procurement code.
The restrictive measures are instead adopted with decrees converted into law, they do not need to have the "legal coverage" of a state of emergency in progress. What if they violate the Constitution? They remain legitimate until they are declared unconstitutional. Many of them expire on March 31, others on June 15. In this article , we have attempted to reconstruct the deadlines of the various uses of the Green Pass under current laws: in theory, as far as we know, after March 31, the basic version (decree of July 2021) and super (November 2021) should remain, expire in the workplace except for the over 50s (until June 15th). Color zones will also cease on March 31, Draghi announced. But in reality they have not existed for months, since vaccinated people are allowed to do anything in any area, while the unvaccinated almost nothing, not even in the white area.
Nothing, however, would prohibit the government from extending the restrictions by decree even if the state of emergency has ceased.
State of emergency which in these two years has, however, carried out an improper function of political justification of the restrictive measures. It may seem paradoxical, since they would not have needed it from a legal point of view, but the governments themselves have promoted the idea that the restrictions, whether they were introduced by Dpcm or by decree law, needed the umbrella of a state of emergency. . In this way, they would be more easily approved by Parliament, supported by the media system and digested by public opinion.
In the words first of Conte and then of Draghi, of their ministers and of the aligned media, the state of emergency has been improperly used as an evocative expression of special powers of the government (which instead are never foreseen), to justify any kind of restriction. without having to give too many explanations, without supporting them with data and overwhelming the principle of proportionality.
Vitalba Azzollini was the first, already this summer, to explain how the state of emergency was "distorted" by the Draghi government. In the form: in July, when it was extended by decree law (n. 105), rather than by resolution of the Cdm. And in substance: the decree no longer refers to the law underlying the state of emergency, the civil protection code (legislative decree 1/2018). It is not a question of goat wool but of substance. In practice, the Draghi government in this way invented a state of emergency that is not foreseen in the legal system, which would remain independent from the reference rules and from the limits within which it was conceived.
The other announcement by President Draghi yesterday, "We will gradually end the obligation to use the enhanced green certificate, starting with outdoor activities including fairs, sports, parties and shows", means that the Green Pass is here to stay. , as we had anticipated on Atlantico Quotidiano , and that from March 31st the use of its super version, the vaccine or healing one, will only be "gradually" reduced.
It is an accordion instrument, which the government has no intention of depriving itself of, because it can arbitrarily restrict or extend its application overnight. An instrument of social control, a real switch of our personal freedoms, which the government can turn on or off according to our degree of obedience to health policies (and perhaps not only those), rewarding those who adapt and punishing those who disagree. with extrajudicial penal sanctions (these are in fact deprivations of liberty), that is, without the pronouncement of a court.
If, as Draghi said, the government intends to "gradually" put an end to the reinforced Green Pass , starting with outdoor activities, it means that in April – with no health emergency in progress and with a share of the immunized population very close to 100 percent – there will continue to be a Green Pass requirement for indoor activities and for working.
In addition to the profiles of unconstitutionality due to an unjustified limitation of personal freedoms, the economic aspect should not be overlooked: if any type of Green Pass , basic or super, for restaurants, hotels, etc. is in force in April, the summer tourist season risks get burned. And we are already late … While our other competing countries have already returned to true normality, or have set a certain date for the return to normal, the slightest uncertainty and confusion about the rules in Italy will induce tourists, in order not to take risks, to choose other destinations. And everything is decided between March and April. Is it possible that Draghi doesn't realize this? Or is it because he realizes it all too well? …
The post Draghi does not extend the state of emergency but the special laws remain in force appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL https://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/draghi-non-proroga-lo-stato-demergenza-ma-restano-in-vigore-le-leggi-speciali/ on Thu, 24 Feb 2022 03:55:00 +0000.