What will Mattarella do with the premiership?
Facts, suggestions and scenarios on Mattarella and the premiership
Who knows if the critics of the premiership, understood as the direct election of the Prime Minister, will even go so far as to consider in danger the now consolidated habit of the Presidents of the Republic of addressing Italians not only through messages to the Chambers, provided for by Article 87 of the Constitution , but also directly on New Year's Eve, through unified network television, to wish a happy new year. This message is added to others that the heads of state have also accustomed us to by addressing smaller audiences such as ambassadors accredited in Italy or the so-called authorities.
The speech delivered on this last occasion by Sergio Mattarella, eighth in the long series that began in 2015 with his first mandate succeeding Giorgio Napolitano, perhaps lent itself more than usual to different and even opposing readings, even in the same newspaper. As happened in the Corriere della Sera with Monica Guerzoni's reporting and Marzio Breda's commentary. A chronicle sensitive to "anguish as a common thread, as a beacon to illuminate the crises of our time", without "losing the path of hope". Which however prevailed in Breda's assessment – before the surprise on the ESM rejected in the Chamber – looking at the "new responsibilities" that await Italy in 2024 with the rotating presidency of the G7, "forum for debate and solutions" hoped for by the head of the state. Which is always attentive to the international framework, but even more so since we are more besieged by wars, for example, in Ukraine and the Middle East. They also demonstrate how peace should never be taken for granted, "just as – Monica Guerzoni understood and underlined – freedom and democracy", with all that both entail, including "the among the powers."
In the combination of freedom, democracy and balance of power, some have sensed, as if in a hunt for allusions, the possibility of detecting a certain concern or opposition from Mattarella to the premiership, despite having authorized the government's proposal to the Chambers. Well, in this interpretation, and implicit defense of his prerogatives threatened by the reform, I don't know whether to see more malice or simple fantasy, greater than that critically attributed to Mattarella himself and his predecessors, especially Napolitano, in the resolution of government crises by resorting to technicians such as Mario Monti and Mario Draghi, in order not to dissolve the Chambers early. Solutions that with the premiership would be prohibited because the head of state could at most turn for another and truly last government of the legislature to a parliamentarian elected from the same camp as the prime minister who may have resigned after being sent to Palazzo Chigi directly by the citizens.
Yet even Matteo Renzi wanted to place himself among those in favor of the premiership, and convinced that it does not compromise the powers of the President of the Republic, nor weaken or upset the balance between powers. That after having lost the 2016 referendum on his constitutional reform, and having resigned as Prime Minister to remain only secretary of the Democratic Party, he saw his request for early elections rejected by Mattarella, who he had practically pushed to the Quirinale the year before. A refusal which first resulted in the formation of Paolo Gentiloni's government, transferred from the Farnesina to Palazzo Chigi, and then the defeat of Renzi also in the ordinary elections of 2018, practically won by the Grillini. If there was and is anyone damaged by the broad prerogatives assumed by the President of the Republic, rather than explicitly assigned to him by the Constitution, it was and is Renzi himself, who – I repeat – does not think he sees the freedoms compromised, so to speak, which presidents have taken on the management of government crises.
To know what is really behind the silence or discretion imposed by Mattarella on the fate of his powers with the reform, we will have to wait for its possible approval. If the President of the Republic really feels that his prerogatives have been diminished or compromised, he should at least be tempted by the idea of not completing his second mandate at the ordinary deadline, thus accelerating the succession. Otherwise he would remain calm and serene in his place, as the promoters of the reform hoped for or – some would say maliciously – pretended to hope for.
Published in Doubt
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/mattarella-premierato/ on Sun, 31 Dec 2023 06:58:02 +0000.