Mattarella and the constitutional law lesson
President Mattarella took charge of a constitutional clarification of no small importance: “The President of the Republic does not sign the laws, he signs the promulgation, which is a very different thing… When he promulgates a law, he does not make it his own, he does not he shares, he simply does his duty.” Every now and then a little review on what is written in article 87 of the Constitution but even in all 139 articles (plus the 18 transitional provisions), it does not harm our civic health. Furthermore, the Head of State also offers a comparison with the previous constitutional charter of our country, i.e. the Albertine Statute of 1848: “Fortunately I am a President – he underlines – and I am not a sovereign”.
So let's go and read the Fundamental Law of the Kingdom of Italy and see that article 3 states: “The legislative power will be collectively exercised by the King and two Chambers: the Senate and that of Deputies”. And in article 5 he adds: “Executive power belongs to the King alone. He is the Supreme Head of the State”. In short, at the time of the Kingdom, all powers were concentrated in the figure of the Head of State (the sovereign), legislative, executive and also judicial, considering that all the magistrates were appointed by his royal person.
We say “wanting to pull him by the jacket” when every now and then some parliamentarian or journalist or some social network know-it-all incites the President not to sign some law that passes across his desk. And he, Mattarella, wanted to clarify: “I may not like it, but my duty is to promulgate it”, unless, we add, I see some element of unconstitutionality; because the President, Head of State, is the Guarantor of the Constitution.
Like when, with sometimes threatening tones, they invite the President to dissolve the Chambers at every change of government. So, let's dot the i's: in one government crisis the Head of State always has the duty to ascertain whether there is a majority in Parliament. He does not have the power to decide on the dissolution of the Chambers and call new elections if he has not first verified this small detail. Often someone forgets this and invokes the polls out of turn, perhaps on the basis of favorable polls and the convenience of the moment. Here, the President of the Republic cannot rely on polls or the convenience of the moment. If he acted like this he would do violence to the Constitution and to our system of parliamentary republic. He has a duty to look at the numbers in Parliament.
How wonderful, every time we delve into these topics, to discover that the constituent gentlemen of 1946/47 built a system of counterweights between the powers of the State of an extraordinary power! And how sad it is to note that sometimes our elected representatives to Parliament do not bring with them the necessary baggage of democratic and constitutional culture, even though they set themselves up as champions of democracy and the Constitution.
And so, a proposal, not entirely far-fetched: that civic education training courses be organized with elements of constitutional law (a few elements are enough, for goodness sake, without trying too hard), aimed at parliamentariansto the highest representatives of the State apparatus, again and properly also in schools (also extended to parents).
I'll throw it out there, just for reflection!
*formerly responsible for the State Ceremonial Office and for the Honors of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers which saw seven prime ministers parade at Palazzo Chigi, from Silvio Berlusconi to Mario Draghi, passing through Mario Monti, Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi, Paolo Gentiloni, Giuseppe Conte.
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