Sister Anna Monia Alfieri’s notebook
The Constitution and recent history outline the profile of the President of the Republic.
1. The President of the Republic is the Head of State and represents the national unity. (Constitution, art. 87). Italians have always looked to the President of the Republic as a figure above the parties, a sort of pater (or even mater, why not
) patriae which, regardless of party membership, has earned over the years the esteem and respect of all the forces of society and politics. Furthermore, citizens, through their President, feel ideally represented abroad and therefore their keen interest, or so it should be, that a figure with a high political and institutional profile is chosen. Anyone who arrives at the Quirinale as President, therefore, knows that putting his foot in the house of the Italians means that, over the course of seven years, his task will be to serve the country in the highest possible way.
If we look at the men who succeeded one another at the Quirinale, we find distinguished jurists (De Nicola, Segni, Leone, Cossiga), economists of clear international fame (Einaudi, Ciampi, the latter with a first degree in Literature!), Personalities from very deep historical, juridical, political culture, figures who were formed in the ranks of anti-fascism first, then of the Constituent Assembly. Certainly, the generation of the Constituents ended by the natural course of events, but we can still count on figures who have drawn from them the example, the practice, the righteousness. President Mattarella was, and still is, an admirable example of this. Looking at the upcoming elections, a look at the past is necessary, because it provides the path to continue the noble tradition.
2. In our Republican history, in which governments fell and alternated, the President of the Republic has always remained a solid point of reference: climbing to the Hill has always meant, for politicians and men of the institutions, to turn to those who would solve the situation, always attracting criticism, even harsh and not without gall, criticisms which, however, have never found an echo, not wanting – the Presidents – to exacerbate the tone or enter the political dialectic.
Our Presidents, over the years and the ups and downs of our history, have had to face moments of serious crisis and have always done so with seriousness and institutional gravity: just think of President Leone at the funeral ceremony of Aldo Moro in San Giovanni in Laterano. or, again, the President Scalfaro who had to face the protests of the Palermitans at the funeral of Judge Borsellino. It was he who had started his mandate following the attack on Capaci, an attack that had unlocked the deadlock in which the elections were pouring following the early resignation of President Cossiga.
Coming to more recent years, it is impossible not to remember the role of President Mattarella in guaranteeing public order and the formation of a yellow-green government first, then yellow-red, assuming the accusations of impeachment without ever raising any recrimination. At risk was the stability of the country.
Since it is recent history and historical revisionism has not yet put its hand, it should be remembered that in 2018 the then political leader of the 5-star Movement spoke openly of impeachment for Sergio Mattarella: “If we go to the vote and win, then let’s go back to the Quirinale and they tell us that we cannot go to the government. This is why I say that the President must be accused. Everything must be parliamentarized, also to avoid reactions from the population ”.
For the record and historical objectivity, it should also be remembered that the intervention of the PD and Forza Italia in defense of the President of the Republic was decisive: it was clear that the political crisis would turn into an institutional crisis. Our democratic system was in serious danger of collapse. Ordinary people felt lost, not only for a quarrelsome political class (we are accustomed to this by now) but above all because the guarantor of public order, that is the President of the Republic, was in crisis.
3. Recent history therefore traces the profile of the President of the Italian Republic. In these hours we are obliged to remember the dark moments of our past not to highlight the inconsistency or perhaps the path of maturation that our young politicians have made, developing a more responsible approach to the institutions, but because, when we think about President of the Republic, we must think of him as a figure who must be able by competence, experience, maturity, to guarantee the country from tragic events that we certainly could not avoid, if an authoritative figure was not elected such as to insert himself in the history of the Quirinale .
Today we enjoy and appreciate the political unity, the sense of responsibility of our parliamentarians who, under the firm and lucid guidance of the Premier, serve the country but we cannot forget that history is made up of repeating cycles. Those who accuse the President will come back, those who put democracy at risk, those who consider the halls of Parliament a can of tuna to be opened, those who think that the country can be dragged into exasperated justicialism, in an exemplification that trivializes and feeds discrimination. Faced with all this, only a President of high moral and institutional caliber can face the situation in the best possible way.
The sense of the institutions, the preparation of President Mattarella averted the collapse; in all this I see, with Father Cristoforo, a thread of Providence, considering that, after two years, the country of Italy and the world would have been folded by an invisible dictator, the covid, which would have generated an unprecedented economic crisis. Also on this front, the damages were reduced by President Mattarella and by the second position of the State, the President of the Senate Maria Elisabetta Casellati, who incessantly called for a return to the paths of democracy, that is, to Parliament.
