Because Mattarella will entrust the government to Draghi
What did the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, say after the failure of Roberto Fico's exploratory mandate and before summoning Mario Draghi to the Quirinale.
Statement by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella at the end of the meeting with the President of the Chamber Roberto Fico
I thank the President of the Chamber of Deputies for carrying out – committed, serious and impartial – the exploratory mandate I had entrusted to him.
From the consultations at the Quirinale, the only possibility of a political-based government emerged from the majority that supported the previous government. The verification of its concrete realization gave a negative result.
There are now two alternatives.
Immediately give birth to a new government, adequate to face the serious emergencies present: health, social, economic, financial. That is, that of immediate early elections.
This second path must be carefully considered, because the elections represent an exercise in democracy.
Faced with this hypothesis, I have the duty to highlight some circumstances which, today, must make us reflect on the appropriateness of this solution.
I have a duty to underline, how the long period of electoral campaign – and the consequent reduction in government activity – would coincide with a crucial moment for the fate of Italy.
From a health point of view, the next few months will be those in which you can defeat the virus or risk being overwhelmed by it. This requires a government in the fullness of its functions to take the necessary measures and not a government with activity reduced to a minimum, as is inevitable in the electoral campaign.
The same applies to the decisive development of the vaccination campaign, to be carried out in close coordination between the State and the Regions.
On the social side – among other things – at the end of March the blocking of dismissals will come to an end and this deadline requires adequate and timely decisions and social protection measures, very difficult to take by a government without full functions, in the middle of the electoral campaign. .
The plan for the use of large European funds must be submitted to the European Commission by April; and it is highly desirable that this happens before that deadline date, so that those indispensable loans are committed soon. And the sooner the plan is presented, the more time you have for discussion with the Commission. This has two months to discuss the plan with our government; with an additional month for the European Council to approve it. It will therefore be necessary, subsequently, to promptly use them in order not to risk losing them.
A government with reduced activity would not be able to do this. In some respects it might not. And we cannot afford to miss this crucial opportunity for our future.
It should be remembered that at least sixty days are required from the day on which the Chambers are dissolved to that of the elections. Subsequently it takes just under twenty to proclaim the elected and bring together the new Chambers. These must, in the following days, appoint their own presiding bodies. It is therefore necessary to form the government and this, in order to operate at full speed, must obtain the trust of both chambers. It must also organize its own collaboration offices in the various ministries.
Four months have passed since the dissolution of the Chambers in 2013. Five months passed in 2018.
It would be a question of keeping our country with a government without full functions for crucial, decisive months for the fight against the pandemic, to use European funding and to face serious social problems.
All these concerns are clearly present to our fellow citizens, who are asking for concrete and rapid answers to their daily problems.
I think it is fair to add another consideration: we are in the midst of the pandemic. The infection of the virus is widespread and alarming; and new waves in its variants are feared.
It should be remembered that elections do not only consist of the day one goes to vote but also include many complex previous activities to form and submit candidates.
Furthermore, the subsequent electoral campaign inevitably requires many crowded meetings, assemblies, rallies: in the frenetic electoral rhythm it is almost impossible that they take place with the necessary distances.
In other countries where people voted – obligatorily, because the legislatures of parliaments or the mandates of presidents had expired – there was a serious increase in infections.
This makes us reflect, thinking of the many victims that unfortunately we continue to record every day – even today -.
I therefore feel the duty to appeal to all political forces present in Parliament to give confidence to a high-profile government, which should not identify with any political formula
I therefore count on assigning as soon as possible an assignment to form a government that will promptly deal with the serious non-postponable emergencies that I have mentioned.
Thanks and good job.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-mattarella-affidera-a-draghi-il-governo/ on Tue, 02 Feb 2021 22:11:36 +0000.