He repeated it exactly for a whole year, starting from February 3, 2021, when, commemorating the 130th anniversary of the birth of his predecessor, Antonio Segni, he recalled the message sent to Parliament in 1963 in which he stressed the opportunity to include in Constitution prohibits the re-election of the President of the Republic and the simultaneous abolition of the so-called ‘blank semester’. Then a series of formal and informal declarations and gestures, the last of which was the start of the move to what was to become his new Roman residence, to reiterate a no to a second term, for constitutional rather than personal reasons.
But today Sergio Mattarella, after the certified inability of Parliament to identify a candidate for his succession, agrees to say yes to the request to remain at the Quirinale, advanced to him by the group leaders of the majority of the Senate and Chamber and by the presidents of the Region and even before that by the Prime Minister himself, Mario Draghi. A sacrifice to lend a hand to the country, also because, says after the communication from the Speaker of the Chamber, Roberto Fico, the “sense of responsibility” requires “not shirking the duties to which one is called”, which prevail “over other considerations and on different personal perspectives “.
Already in the message at the end of 2020 Mattarella had spoken of “last year as President of the Republic”, then repeating it, as mentioned, on other occasions, sometimes replying to the invitations to stay at the Colle, addressed to him more or less directly and on some occasions also striking. “This year, also because it is the last of my mandate, I could not and did not want to” do without this meeting, he stated for example on March 29, 2021, receiving a representation from the Air Force at the Quirinale. And already three days before, on the occasion of the celebrations of Monday at the Quirinale, he had replied “there is a time for everything” to Roberto Benigni who told him: “President, I am sorry that your mandate is about to end and that you go Street”.
On May 19, however, the confession to a Roman schoolchild: “The activity” of the President of the Republic “is demanding, but in 8 months my assignment ends, I am old, in a few months I will be able to rest”. While the day before, speaking at the University of Brescia, he had incidentally mentioned the “last months of my Presidency”.
Another reference to his predecessor, Giovanni Leone, remembered at the Quirinale on 11 November, and also in this case to a message sent to Parliament, in which “the request (already underlined by President Segni) to introduce the non re-election of the President of the Republic, with the consequent elimination of the blank semester “.
If ten days later, on the occasion of the inauguration of the academic year of the ‘La Sapienza’ ‘University, Mattarella spoke of “a few weeks after the conclusion of my role, of my functions as President of the Republic”, it was annoyance mixed with irritation that which he filtered on December 3, to reply to those who linked the presentation of a bill for the no to re-eligibility to his will to remain at the Quirinale until the approval of the provision.
The ovation with which the Head of State was welcomed at the Teatro alla Scala on 7 December was destined to remain engraved in the memory, with the public who did not hesitate to ask him for an encore like the great singers. However, no change of program, with the farewell visit to the Vatican on December 16 to greet Pope Francis, up to the end of the year message and the balance of “seven demanding, complex, full of emotions” years in “a few days, like establishes the Constitution “, from the conclusion of” my role as President “.
Finally, on 20 January, the greeting to the CSM with the wish “for the activity it will carry out in the coming months with the presidency of the new Head of State”. Then the trip to Palermo last weekend to start the move to the Roman house chosen as a new residence once you left the Quirinale and the inspections while the ballots continued in Parliament.
In short, “other plans” with respect to staying at the Hill, as confessed to the parliamentary group leaders who asked him to be available for re-election. But after the paralysis that emerged in Parliament, Mattarella says yes and accepts a sacrifice given that “there is a need to lend a hand” to the country. “The difficult days spent for the election to the Presidency of the Republic during the serious emergency that we are still going through – on the health, economic and social side – call for a sense of responsibility and respect for the decisions of Parliament. These conditions – he affirms before the presidents of the Chamber, Roberto Fico, and of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati – they impose not to shirk the duties to which they are called and, of course, they must prevail over other considerations and different personal perspectives “.
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