Lesson of the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano to the first edition of Biennale Democracy
Turin - Teatro Regio, 22 April 2009
I hope will not surprise you that I depart, in my reflections, by a personal narrative. I am absolutely convinced that it is not superfluous to remember - even with the contribution who can give witness - what history is our daughter, republican democracy, and the constitution that represents all the spirit, the scaffolding and the warranty. It is not redundant given the ease with which they assume
today irreverent attitude and you tend etter am concerned a wealth of principles that has made an acquisition in Italy suffered placing it in the big groove of thought and progress of liberal and democratic ' Europe and the West.
he went from personal narrative.
I had just turned eighteen when I was 25 July 1943, like all Italians, reached by radio late at night by lightning, unpredictable news of the fall of Mussolini. Unpredictable even in the form, who had a taste of the ancient rite, long forgotten: the acceptance by the Head of State, the resignation of the Head of Government. It was learned later that the resignation of Mussolini had been caused by the fact, which is also unprecedented,
a substantial vote of no confidence adopted with startling democratic process, from the highest executive organ of the ruling party, of which Mussolini was always the absolute arbiter . At the bottom of those unpredictable events but of course there was a profound crisis
gradually gained in the relationship between the country and fascism, beginning with his boss, Circulation disastrous effect of the war that he recklessly wanted, and more and more unbearable weight of suffering of the population. Of this I was myself a witness and participant in experiencing the odyssey of one hundred bombings that have struck the city of Naples.
The news of the fall of Mussolini and his government so aroused an immediate sense of liberation from fascism, and we had the illusion, war. I'll be back with my mind on the evening of 25 and still remember how I shared with a friend who was closer to that moment of excitement and euphoria.
We had long since matured, along with others of our generation, not only the most radical opposition to fascism but also the conviction, which also was not easy to reach, that salvation could only come to Italy from the defeat by the Allied forces. In fact, the approach was critical of the Anglo-American forces since the end of 1942, up to the Italian territory to invade and drive from the South, from Sicily.
positions since joining I had come in the first half of 1942, attending the final year of high school in Padua, I discovered the policy el'antifascismo I could find them and explore them in the youth group of which I joined enrolling ' University of Naples.
But those positions could not embrace the consequences that would defeat the withdrawal of Italy from the alliance with Nazi Germany. In the aftermath of the liberation of Naples from the terror
arrival of German and Allied troops at the end of September 1943, I had the most direct perception of the condition which had fallen hard in my town, called to live, after the liberation, the 'experience of the American occupation: an
chaotic and hectic, for the "blow the cover" - according to the memory and the description of the then very young writer Raffaele La Capria - the end of the long "constraint (words, always La Capria) regime, the war, the daily bombings, fear, hunger,
isolation. "
The reality of this country was - not easy today to imagine for those who do not have personal memory as me, so I wished to recall - and that was the war that (far from being completed according to the hopes of July 25) continued to impact on the rest of Italy remained in the circle of Nazi oppression from Rome up, leaving a legacy wherever grief and rubble.
was so desperate to be a reality that is where to start to re-establish democracy in Italy. Apply thin, dramatic phrases recorded in his diary, December 15, 1943, by a great intellectual fascism, Benedetto Croce, identify yourself as a scholar with the cause of Italian unity and the history of the Unitary State:
"I've always thought that everything fixed in the Italian generations had built here a century in politically, economically and morally, is destroyed.
survive only in our hearts the ideal forces with which we face a difficult future, without looking back, stopping to mourn. "
In fact, those forces ideals manifested themselves at the same time not short of the German occupation in the Centre-North - in Italy a "cut in two" - through the development of strength in arms and a generous mobilization of people in the name of freedom, independence, dignity Italian homeland.
But after the war, the future was addressed by starting the physical reconstruction of the country devastated and terribly impoverished, and restoring essential conditions for democratic governance. And this first stage was covered under the guidance of coalition governments that succeeded fascism
between April 1944 and 1945 in the deliverance of Italy now complete.
The following stages were those that articulate a commitment to reconstruction, not less necessary and vital, both in political and state. With the creation of the National
you gave birth to a representative body - albeit unelected - the resurrected political pluralism. With the establishment of the Ministry for the Constituent Assembly will lay the foundations of what would be the mission of an Assembly elected by the people with the mandate to adopt a Constitution.
Finally, the recognition of women's right to vote and be elected, in the very first free elections, it predisposero
the conditions for the decisive evidence of the institutional referendum and the election of the Constituent Assembly were held now, for the first time in the history of Italy, by universal suffrage. So
revived democracy in Italy, on a broader basis than ever before and strong in the past, and was reborn at the same time to recover parties, trade unions, other social organizations and free association of independent media and representing a plurality of views;
revived with the growth of unprecedented participation of citizens in public life.
not want to be clear, suggesting an idyllic picture of those years which would have resulted from the choice of the Republic and the Constitution, the acquisition of the ideals and democratic principles was neither immediate nor uncontested, and before the resurgent role of the parties also a movement arose to challenge it, (the so-called "man") and not without success. But there is no doubt that you set in motion a process irresistible from above and below, the rebuilding of democracy. Culmination of this process was the development - in an atmosphere of extraordinary intellectual and political fervor, and the approach through the confrontation between various political and cultural currents dall'antifascismo in common - the Republican Constitution.
The comparison in the Constituent Assembly and its final destination, the text adopted by a majority of 90 per cent 22 December 1947, were, of course, deeply marked by the hard lessons of the past - the collapse of the liberal state, the advent of a personal and party dictatorship, the fateful choice of wars of aggression. But at the same time they reflect the trend dynamism of Italian society in terms of new-found freedom, and popular momentum toward a new and more just economic and social structure towards a truly democratic.
The Republican Constitution is therefore a kind of war surplus, like somewhere you would like to understand sometimes. It was compiled from surveys across the board and
substantial publications of the Ministry for the Constituent Assembly, who explored, inter alia, the constitutions and electoral laws of most other countries, comparing the experiences of others and the conditions of our country. The Charter, which arose by the Constituent Assembly, was born
then looking forward, looking away: she knew - Ranging from dramatic experiences, including avoiding any possible breeding - to give a solid foundation and long-term prospects for the new building democratic Italy. Those foundations were based on values \u200b\u200bdeveloped in opposition to fascism, the Resistance, in the elaboration of new thinking and programming, those prospects were handled by a skillful effort, in the formulation and addresses of the Charter, to keep the doors of the new building to unpredictable developments and applications of the future. The values \u200b\u200bof anti
and Resistance are never closed in a simple logic of rejection and contrast, evolve more proactive and positive impulses, and could therefore result, the Constitution, principles and rights shared by all who had been strangers to anti
and the Resistance. So April 25th is the feast of one side only.
principles which inspired the legislation, case law, the actual behavior of many public and private rights to ensure, through recourse to justice, to be respected in the concrete social relations and civil rights.
This is a point that is worth insisting. The Constitution is not a simple charter of values. It certainly has a strong ideal and symbolic, that can inspire and unite the Italians. But its creators were aimed to make a coherent body of principles and rules that have, without exception, "a legal status as a guidance and command of the legislature and policy interpretation to the court." With those words expressed the President of the Commission on 75 and within the Constituent Assembly had prepared the draft Constitution, and the first sentence of the Constitutional Court ruled in 1955 that established the so-called programmatic provisions contained in the Constitution had legal significance.
short, not only the Republican Constitution was never intended as a manifesto of ideological or political party, but not merely to formulate national values \u200b\u200bstoricomorali, unifying.
Our Democratic Constitution as any other is the fundamental law, the legal system and the institutional architrave. And as such it should be applied and respected: not applied once and for all, but in an endless process of accession to
new reality, new sensibilities, new demands. So
have understood and applied governments and parliaments of the Republic, so he understood, and kept watch on his respect, the Constitutional Court.
E 'Basic Law is the supreme law, the Constitution, and first in scoring the extent to which any powers that may take place and is "governed" the same sovereign will of the people (Fioravanti 2009). It reflects, in this regard, the first article of our Constitution, where it states: "Sovereignty belongs to the people and is exercised in the manner and within the limits of the Constitution." Once that is that the constituent power delivered by the sovereign people with the election of the House to mandate that is accomplished, any further
expression of popular sovereignty, all authority of representative institutions, like the ordinary legislative power, executive power, recognize the supremacy of the Constitution, respect the limits it places before them. This is essential feature of modern constitutional democracy
, which we wanted to establish it in Italy, with the widest consensus in the light of past experience and with an eye to the models of the democratic West.
Common to these models, despite their variety, is the sense of limits that can not be ignored even in the popular strength of the endowment, direct or indirect, of those who govern.
respect the constitution and therefore highly demanding expression: beyond a superficial Egenera declaration of loyalty. Respect it also means recognizing the essential role of the constitutionality and therefore the authority of the guarantee institutions. These should never be the subject of political attacks and disparaging reviews, beyond the expression of reservations about their specific decision makers. All the institutions of control and assurance can not be seen as braking elements of decision-making, but as a legitimate defense of the dialectic
institutional ultimately ensure transparency, fairness, protection of the rights of citizens. This call to
essential features of constitutional democracy has nothing to do with a static vision of our Charter, with its celebration of an end in itself or with the statement of his untouchability.
I have already mentioned the potential that the principles and guidelines introduced in the Republican Constitution in terms that take open doors to the future: it is therefore right and can have a dynamic vision of our Charter, dig into it to grasp all the current suggestions. It must be so to live the Constitution, as has already been in sixty years, through various contributions, which aims specifically to do.
At the same time, it also reiterated that the same founding fathers wanted to envisage possible requirements and specific procedures for revising the Constitution. Send
entered into force on 1 January 1948 was, moreover, already touched, already reviewed in dozens of articles, some of which, in recent years, of great importance, and an entire title
Part. And upon further review the discourse is entirely legitimate, but for general recognition objectively founded. For a broader review of the Constitution
worked effectively in Parliament in 1993-94, in 1996-97 and in 2004-2006, based on integrated procedures themselves than indicated in art. 138.
None of those three attempts at reform - for the second part of the Constitution, namely to the 'law of the Republic "- is, in different circumstances and for various reasons, been successful. But the political forces represented in Parliament largely converge on the need for that 'sort "requires be revised and adjusted in several places. You can not just condemn the risks that it is distorted. Remember that if they posited, in the most authoritative
already after the 1992 elections, a revision that incidesse "in the articulation of different institutions: redefining the characters, powers, ways to drive or operate
' other, and redefining the balance between them.
It once again to the Parliament whether any steps in this direction, on the objectives to be pursued, the degree of consensus to be achieved. While not being able
- attribuitomi role in the exercise of the Constitution - to express figure of merit, to suggest possible solutions, I think it is my responsibility to urge the political forces in Parliament to an effort of realism and wisdom to start the debate on essential
reform proposals of the second part of the Constitution, on which it is possible to arrive at wider sharing. The spirit should be, as has been recently authoritatively told, of a new "Constituent season." It is not starting from scratch, it's no
surrender to conservative resistance or, conversely, tend to be risky and unproductive conflict, it is necessary that all parties will demonstrate awareness of reform and
sense of proportion.
It is not starting from scratch, because it is through partial revisions of the Charter of 1948, both through innovations in parliamentary election laws and regulations, as well as in relation to changes in the political system prodottisi, the terms of the various issues are already
significantly changed. E 'ongoing evolution-in a visible way regionalistic Federal - state of the form, and in what form of government, although it remained parliamentary, non-negligible are the new form that has already known.
Under the parliamentary form of government, which is by far the predominant in Europe, possible, and indeed they are expressed, different balances between the government and Parliament, between the executive and legislative power, and even between these two powers and the judiciary. The Italian Constitution of 1948 was certainly marked by an accentuation of the parliament than the government. The need for stability and efficiency of decision-
latter were then in the background.
But things have gradually changed, back in the '80s with the reform of parliamentary rules, and increasingly since the late '90s with the increased reliance on emergency ordinances and
Institute and the vote of confidence recently by strengthening the bond between the government and parliamentary majority, as well as the drastic decline of political fragmentation in parliament. This has led a scholar and a protagonist as Giuliano Amato
judge (in a recent written) "today obsolete the traditional observation of the weakness of the government in relation to the Parliament".
So, it is entirely legitimate politically, but from these facts, and therefore, without engaging in polemics emphasis unfounded, see what concrete evidence of further strengthening the powers of government, and who presides over it, can be introduced on the basis of clear and convincing reasons.
What was, even recently, shared viable and is certainly the case for reform dellaCostituzione that marks the passing of an anachronistic anomaly perfect bicameralism, the culmination of developments in the federal sense, well under way, as I mentioned, with the establishment of a Chamber of autonomy in place of the traditional Senate. He was also a rationalization of the legislative process, and with it the "better regulation" that is increasingly being invoked correctly.
But I would like to expand this view to take of my reflection - often beyond the distorting mirror of the political disputes strictly Italian - issues and dilemmas that cross, and already time, the discourse on democracy in the West. For decades now we
opened the general debate on governance of democratic societies in which, to a growing complexity of problems and a trend towards increasing number of questions and conflicts, are not adequate capacity to respond, through timely and effective decisions by partedelle institutions.
In addressing this crucial issue at the time, Norberto Bobbio observed that while the beginning of the dispute on the relationship between liberalism and democracy, "the main target was the tyranny of the majority", it was running out to take the opposite, "not excess
but the lack of power. " E Bobbio said, without evading the issue: "the denunciation of the authoritarian ungovernability tends to suggest solutions." A warning, this, that you should never forget. And what should be derived from the need to keep firmly
the validity of the waiver and "leading institutions of liberalism" - conceived in opposition to every despotism - including - in the classic definition of the same Bobbio, "the guarantee of rights of freedom (especially freedom of thought and the press), the division of powers, the plurality of parties,
the protection of political minorities. " And always Bobbio also put emphasis on the representativeness of Parliament, the independence of the judiciary, the principle of legality
.
This is not an outdated baggage, expendable - either explicitly or de facto - on the altar of governance, in a "quick decisions, peremptory and definitive" by the authorities. I have mentioned - and it is certainly among the institutions not expendable -
the distinction of powers (legislative, executive, judicial), and I will be allowed to invoke the recognition of the Head of State as a "power neutral," according to the principle that
enunciated by Benjamin Constant two centuries ago, still inspired our founding fathers in shaping the figure of the President of the Republic.
I also mentioned as essential to the representation of Parliament: concerning which I think we can say that it is not fatally flawed by different rules in democratic countries, aimed at avoiding excessive political fragmentation, but may be seriously weakened
absence of a viable training procedures of the applications and mechanisms to anchor the relationship with the territory's elected and the electorate.
In short, can not be used to simplify the system of rights and restrictions in the name of duty to govern. Great is certainly the difficulty of governing under conditions of social pluralism, political and institutional, and even more so in the presence today of the deep crisis that has invested
our economies. But there is, from a democratic alternative to confrontation, to combine listening, mediation and decisions, to achieve the synthesis with the necessary speed without sacrificing the rights and the contribution of representation.
And this is no escape even in politicoistituzionali systems that seem to ensure the highest affirmation of the power of government entrusted to a supreme authority staff. I refer of course to truly democratic systems and models such as Presidential USA: where, beyond the change or oscillation, in time, the balance between the President and Congress, to the latter, ie the parliamentary representation, in its separation from the executive is reserves a large area of \u200b\u200binfluence and intervention - and ultimately the last word - in the deliberative process. Even at times, I add, national emergency and urgency, as we say the recent events of the complex relationship - in the field of legislation - including the new President, the new U.S. Administration and the Congress of the United States.
spoken for some time, and often, a crisis of representative democracy, in reference to the weakening of its institutions and the confidence which they have as citizens.
But many have came positively by proposing broader concept, which they see - it is written - "the representation as a process that connects companies and institutions, which rely on the political responsibilities of a working relationship" between the inside
political institutions and the outside ", the activation of a" communicative power "- an expression that seems to me very happy -" between civil society and political society "(Urbina, 2006). And in this sense it has indeed come to opening the field of research and proposals to achieve concrete forms of participatory and deliberative democracy
commonest forms concrete experiments in particular through the link between elected assemblies and regional and local organizations and social channels of consultation and citizen involvement in decision-making processes transparent. Not a counterweight-dated ideological position, that is, representative democracy and direct democracy, but an effort
integration between institutions, while exercising their functions and responsibilities, and expressions of a wider movement of democratic participation at all levels .
The need to raise the proximity adhesion, not passive but alert and driving, citizens in democratic institutions, the need to avoid a fatal weakening of the latter due to the posting trends, mistrust and indifference on the part of citizens, is as complex as
never before in the current phase of history - and this is the last point I want to briefly touch.
E 'in place for some time a shift away from nation-wide sphere of decision-sized ultra-nationalism, European and global: one wonders if there is feasible in this new context, one that has been building in the West as a representative democracy. This is imposed
- observed a prominent scholar of democratic systems, Robert Dahl - with the historical transition from city-states to nation states: it is now in the presence of a "change just as important for democracy" as a result of the passage of public decisions in transnational.
here are of fundamental questions about the possibility of democratic international organizations, the decisions taken at that level. And these questions are taking on - it seems clear - a topical. Answers on the hypothetical
debate is open in all its complexity. But I would like to draw attention to a process that has already implemented and can be a fruitful approach to the discourse on the governance of globalization: talk about the process of regional integration, continental or sub-continental, which was actually produced in Europe but also tends to occur outside of Europe.
The Community and then the European Union represented the original forms, for over fifty years of shared exercise of sovereignty to the supranational level. And it's a fact that the growth of this experience, the first treaty between the six founding
on, was accompanied by the concern of a democratic deficit, since the decisions were concentrated in institutions like the Commission and the Council seemed long to escape democratic control. In contrast, it was said,
of traditional institutions of the Member States. But being an irreversible fact of the loss by the latter to increasing amounts of their sovereignty, imposing more and more - and today more than ever this seems an imperative - the decisions and policies at European level, could not raise the question create the institutions and corresponding forms of supranational democracy.
Well, this need after having been removed, not a short time, largely unmet, has gradually found its way in strengthening the role of the endowment and the European Parliament. It can not be say that every failure, ambiguity and contradiction has been resolved. But
decisive progress has been made, direct election, by universal suffrage, the allocation of the European Parliament, which has been increasingly recognized, with powers in shaping the laws of the Union, and more incisive for direction and control over the executive, identified in the Commission in Brussels. The European Parliament is therefore emerging as the supranational institution par excellence and as the guarantor of democratic legitimacy: the voters should be aware of this recently called for Parliament to vote Strasbourg.
At the same time, the Constitutional Treaty and then also aborted, however, the Treaty of Lisbon which is completing its ratification, has opened up new opportunities for cooperation and synergy between the European institutions, notably the European Parliament and national parliaments , and new possibilities for communication and structured dialogue between European institutions and civil society. Not mere coincidence that the experience of European integration is now taken as a reference - even in terms of democratic governance - to similar processes that start in other continents and the roads to be undertaken globally.
Investing further, more consistent development of European integration is an essential part of Italian for us to project our future in the Republican Constitution. The prospect of a united Europe, which allow for the necessary limitations
sovereignty, was evoked in the debate of the Constituent Assembly and was in fact anticipated in forward-looking provisions of article 11 of our Charter. To consolidate, to live and grow
democracy in Italy and in a world so fiery transformation, we must not only "guard" the Constitution, protect and reaffirm the principles and rights that it established in the light of harsh lessons of history And we must continually lower it in the evolution of Italian society and also
of international society.
We know what the Constitution has opened new horizons for our country: the horizons of freedom and equality, modernization and solidarity. The condition for cultivating these capabilities, in terms of meeting the needs and demands that ripen slowly in the body social, the national community - the requirement to strengthen the foundations of democracy and consensus from which it may draw safety and momentum - is a commitment that spans the company, which makes them feel and weight as an expression of awareness and willingness of many men and women of all generations and all walks of life.
In these weeks before the tragedy of the earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy has been followed by a surge of solidarity that gave a sense of the wealth of human resources - real and precious reserves of energy - on which the country can count In a spirit of national unity. Can be drawn, I think, a good omen for the emergence, in general, that feeling of that commitment to democratic citizens, in support of constitutional principles and guidelines, which I have just indicated the need. I speak of a revival, indeed indispensable, civic sense, dedication to the general, of widespread participation in forms of social life and political activity. I'm talking about shooting a cultural and moral mobilization and collective, of which Italy is also very hard at critical times - so today I wanted to start from there - has shown itself capable. An opportunity to show it is still able to date from the deep crisis that has invested in a new and complex global environment, the economy and the Italian company.
The appeal is to be, each of us, full height.
