President of the Republic: guarantor or monarch?
"Il Presidente" by Marco Damilano (The ship of Theseus) read by Tullio Fazzolari
Finally here we are. There is now only one day left to start the voting to elect the new President of the Republic. And, however it goes, one almost breathes a sigh of relief. Never before has the choice of the head of state had such a long prologue as this time. Mario Draghi had just settled in Palazzo Chigi and there was already discussion about whether or not he should move to the Quirinale. And from that moment, for eleven months, everything has been talked about: from the need for Sergio Mattarella to remain in office for a second term to the impracticability of Silvio Berlusconi up to the impromptu proposal to enlist representatives of mayors among the great voters , which is not foreseen by the Constitution.
It is true that the debate is part of the game. However, in the long run it can be exhausting and risks making us lose sight of the true importance of the choice that will be made in the coming days. In order not to get lost in the labyrinth of controversies and more or less possible alliances, it is worth reading " Il Presidente " by Marco Damilano (La nave di Teseo, 349 pages, 19 euros) and effortlessly retrace seventy-five years of republican history. The originality of the book, among the many that have recently come out on the subject, lies in the fact that it is neither a chronicle nor a sequence of biographical medallions of the twelve personalities who have succeeded one another at the Quirinale. Instead, it is the analytical and detailed reconstruction of an almost infinite number of decisive episodes that characterized both the election of the head of state and his way of interpreting the role of president. And if on the one hand Damilano's story flows as fast as a journalistic reportage, on the other it is immediately clear that it is structured according to a rigorous historical analysis.
A further advantage of the book is to bring to attention facts that have been somewhat forgotten over the years. Few, for example, remember the evening of November 1980 when Sandro Pertini summoned the RAI cameras for an unexpected message to the nation denouncing the delays and disorganization of relief efforts due to the Irpinia earthquake. It was the first time that the highest office in the state publicly accused other institutions. Another example: Damilano reconstructs in more depth the end of Enrico Letta's government that many have simplistically attributed to Matteo Renzi and the PD while the role of President Giorgio Napolitano was equally decisive.
And we go back to today waiting for the election of the thirteenth head of state. Those who preceded him were all notaries of politics and guarantors of the Constitution but, as Damilano points out, also a little monarchs having to intervene on events for which their duties are not defined. And this over time has amplified the weight of the President of the Republic more and more. At this point all that remains is to hope that the next is a point of balance as Mattarella was.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/presidente-della-repubblica-garante-o-monarca/ on Sun, 23 Jan 2022 06:21:52 +0000.