Mattarella, on stage and behind the scenes (by Paolo Becchi on Libero on-line)
For those wishing to get an idea of everything that has happened in these two and a half years of Conte I and Conte II governments and of the way in which the President of the Republic has acted, the new book by Paolo Armaroli is a really useful text, I would say indispensable. Conte and Mattarella. On the stage and behind the scenes of the Quirinale , published by La Vela, is a book of 252 dense pages, complete with an index of names, written in the form of a story about the institutions and therefore easy to read, but at the same time full of news and details of our republican history. Its author combines the gift of writing of the journalist of the past with the wisdom of the jurist who over the years (and now they are eighty) has accumulated experience both in academic and political activity.
The book has already had several reviews in several newspapers, all of which are widely praiseworthy. I also join the chorus, a little late and I am pleased to see that even a jurist with great parliamentary experience, a member of the Bicamerale D'Alema for constitutional reforms, has come to criticize the indiscriminate use of the DPCM with which it is managing – moreover in bankruptcy considering the high number of deaths – the health emergency. I also share the idea that Mattarella in this case has opened "the umbrella only halfway", to protect the Prime Minister, only halfway . Moreover, at least once, on April 25, 2020, the Quirinale opened the umbrella completely, but it was, if I do not think badly, the only time and I believe, with Armaroli, that " behind the scenes " Mattarella tried to to curb a dangerous practice that at least initially had put parliament in hibernation and all decisions were made "by the man alone in command".
It is therefore right to have tried to curb this drift , but I think it is appropriate to advance some criticisms regarding the role that Mattarella on the "stage and behind the scenes" has exercised in recent years and unlike the author of the book I believe that the Boss of the State the " Pillars of Hercules " on at least two occasions has overcome them. This is what I intend to dwell on now.
On the "stage" Mattarella was on the Savona case at the time of Count I. Everything is regular and normal according to Armaroli. Sure? Let's start with the "sacred text". Art. 92 of the Constitution , second paragraph: " The President of the Republic appoints the President of the Council of Ministers and, upon his proposal, the Ministers ". The appointment of the Ministers of the Head of State is a mere formal act. He can certainly advise the Prime Minister, that is – as they say – he can make moral suasion , but he cannot prevent the Prime Minister from choosing a minister for himself. Costantino Mortati docet. " Having conditioned the appointment of ministers to the proposal of the President of the Council (which must be considered strictly binding for the head of state) is pure and simple application of the principle of supremacy conferred on him, and of the responsibility placed on him for the political conduct of the cabinet: responsibility that obviously could not be assumed if it could not benefit, for the concrete development of the same, of a staff of its trust ". The republican "practice" – writes Armaroli as an excellent connoisseur of the subject – however, was different. And on this he cannot be blamed, I would say that it is precisely practice that shows that over time our form of government has remained parliamentary , but with a presidential corrective. Moreover, it is necessary to reach 1994 to have a President of the Republic who prevents a Prime Minister from appointing a minister in a specific ministry. It is obviously Scalfaro with Berlusconi : Previti to justice. Berlusconi had to give up, but Previti (who was also his lawyer) entered the government anyway and went to the defense. In any case, a man of Berlusconi's trust, Alfredo Biondi, went to justice. Nothing is known about Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, while we know that Napolitano (we neglect here the role he played in the fall of the last Berlusconi government) influenced the appointment of Passera for economic development in the Monti government, of Saccomanni for the economy in the Letta government. and of Padoan – again in the economy – in the Renzi government and prevented the appointment of Nicola Gratteri to Justice, where Andrea Orlando went.
In 2018, however, something different from simple moral suasion happens. Mattarella vetoes Paolo Savona in the economy, preventing Giuseppe Conte – on the evening of May 27, 2018 – from forming the government. Conte insists with the request to appoint Savona to the economy, in agreement with the majority parties that support him according to a precise political agreement, but the President of the Republic refuses and the next day he arrives to entrust the task to Carlo Cottarelli. The quarrel , which had animated the minds to the point of pushing Di Maio to ask for Mattarella to be indicted , will be resolved after four days (May 31) with the transfer of Savona from the economy to European affairs. On June 1, the government swore, with Mattarella also obtaining the appointment of Moavero Milanesi – former minister of the Monti government – to foreign affairs. Mattarella's veto on Savona was illegitimate and Mattarella has exceeded his powers because according to our Constitution it is excluded that the Head of State has the power to refuse the appointment of a Minister and because of this even groped to form a new government "Of the President". Point and head.
“Behind the scenes” – in my humble opinion – something even more serious happened. I'll make it short, it's all told in one of my books (written with Giuseppe Palma, entitled " Thieves of democracy ") , which, like Armaroli's, is a "story about institutions", but unlike Armaroli's, it was welcomed by a deafening silence. August 2019, Salvini opens the government crisis, naively convinced that the road to elections is viable. A serious mistake because Grillo immediately opens to the PD and Renzi immediately agrees with Grillo. Zingaretti initially calls for early elections and Salvini believes he can sleep peacefully. But the government crisis ends, as natural, in the hands of Mattarella and everything changes. Salvini senses the danger and he can only offer Di Maio the Presidency of the Council to create a new yellow-green government. Di Maio , unlike what Armaroli believes, accepts. On 25 August , in the morning, Salvini calls Mattarella , who is however on a return flight from Fivizzano (Tuscany). Having landed in Rome, the President of the Republic recalls Salvini , who tells him that the crisis can be resolved with a re-edition of the yellow-green government , with Di Maio as premier. In the evening, " Repubblica " layouts the newspaper for the following day, confirming that Zingaretti does not agree on the name of Conte and that the negotiations for the formation of the government are destined to fail. However, on 26 August Zingaretti suddenly opens to Conte. In the afternoon Centinaio (Lega) confirms that the Carroccio is available for a re-edition of the yellow-green government (Ansa beats the news). But the games are now done . It is destined to remain a mystery what happened "behind the scenes" between the afternoon of 25 and the morning of August 26. The fact is that after the phone call between Mattarella and Salvini, Zingaretti accepts the name of Conte, rejected until the day before and Conte II has the go-ahead . On August 28, Zingaretti to the leadership of his party explains the meaning of his turnaround as follows: “ And I want to underline it, with the only certainty of finding once more in the President of the Republic the balance and wisdom necessary to govern such a delicate transition. Therefore, we have not withdrawn ”. The Democratic Party, therefore, did not withdraw from the government with the M5s because the President of the Republic asked for it?
In short, it seems to me that Mattarella on the "stage and behind the scenes" made them cooked and raw, certainly not in the manner of his predecessor who was a communist, but as a skilled Christian Democrat, indeed from that "stainless Christian Democrat" who Armaroli himself, in an article I would say almost prophetic of 1997, defined "father of the country". I talked a lot about Mattarella and little about Conte. In fact there is no comparison between the first and the second. With the "mattarellum" Mattarella gave birth to the second Republic, with Count II he caused the third to abort. Chapeau!
About Conte I manage with a joke. In Conte I Conte was politically non-existent, Conte II is a "construction" of Mattarella and now Conte can only aspire to take its place. He is certainly not the only one to nourish this aspiration, for this he must be very careful, he must arrive alive at the " white semester ", and it will not be easy when in the spring with the "plague" famine will also arrive . You can always count on the miraculous vaccine. With the help, "behind the scenes", of Mattarella, however, he can do it. “Adelante, José, con juicio, si puedes”.
by Paolo Becchi in Libero on-line : https://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/commenti-e-opinioni/25704922/sergio-mattarella-paolo-becchi-sempre-per-sinistra-contro-matteo-salvini-libro -tell-last-two-years.amp? __ twitter_impression = true
*** *** ***
On the subject, we recommend reading the book by Paolo Becchi and Giuseppe Palma “ THIEVES OF DEMOCRACY. The craziest government crisis in the world ", Giubilei Regnani, October 2019:
Here are some links for the purchase :
https://www.ibs.it/ladri-di-democrazia-crisi-di-libro-paolo-becchi-giuseppe-palma/e/9788833371368
https://www.amazon.it/Ladri-democrazia-crisi-governo-pazza/dp/8833371360
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles of Economic Scenarios.
The Mattarella article , on stage and behind the scenes (by Paolo Becchi on Libero on-line) comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/mattarella-sul-palcoscenico-e-dietro-le-quinte-di-paolo-becchi-su-libero-on-line/ on Wed, 30 Dec 2020 17:24:27 +0000.