Mattarella: Tailoring laws to individual behaviour amounts to the state abdicating its responsibilities. No Tav: such violence is unacceptable
“News clones, artificially generated by machines, are circulating. They are destined to reproduce endlessly on the web, without any verification,” “What facts do they bear witness to? Can information even exist without journalists?” asks the Head of State
Key points
- No Tav: unacceptable violence
- A common European defence is not a threat but a tool for peace
- Serious mistake: withdrawal from the EU Convention on Treaty Reform
- Migrants: moving beyond the emergency mindset
- IA: this is not a caricature of Dolly the sheep
- Political debate should be respectful; aggression is counterproductive
“You have referred to some of the points raised in the debate that has been taking place over the last few days on political issues – or, to put it more accurately, between political parties. I, of course, will not get involved: I am not part of it and have no intention of taking part.” So said the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, speaking during the Ventaglio ceremony at the Quirinale and responding to a question from the president of the Parliamentary Press Association, Alfonso Raimo, who also cited the Roggero case.
“I shall limit myself to one observation which I hope will give pause for thought. In a civilised and orderly society, one that offers reassurance to its citizens, individual behaviour must comply with the common rules, namely those laid down by law,” Mattarella reiterated. “If, on the other hand, this principle were turned on its head and it were thought that the rules of the law should adapt to individual, ad hoc behaviour, changing their content from time to time, on a case-by-case basis, this would not strengthen security but would amount to the state abdicating its responsibilities.”
No Tav: unacceptable violence
“I wish to emphasise the necessary and indispensable need to combat violence. It is unacceptable for the belief to take hold that, if one’s views are in the minority within society, it is justifiable to resort to forms of violence that undermine the free democratic will of the Italian people as expressed through the institutions provided for by the Constitution. A sort of ‘do-it-yourself’ approach, where everyone is free to act as they please in relation to the actions of public authorities, that is, local authorities.”
According to Mattarella, “what happened – most recently – on Saturday in Val di Susa is unacceptable: the very foundations of democratic coexistence are being called into question, and there can be no hesitation or reticence in condemning and countering such aggressive behaviour. Violence is a lethal virus for democracy and for social life. It attacks the Constitution: those who practise it, those who preach it, and those who justify it. This is accompanied by a phenomenon that has been denounced on numerous occasions in the pages of various newspapers and which requires greater responsible attention from everyone, in society and in political life. The phenomenon of a sort of indignant refusal not merely to share but even to listen to the opinions of others: it is hardly surprising that this gives rise to a climate of mutual intolerance and fanatical aversion that helps to sow the seeds of violence.”
A common European defence is not a threat but a tool for peace
The establishment of “an effective common European defence” “poses no threat to anyone, nor is it aimed at war: on the contrary, it is a means of safeguarding peace”. In the Head of State’s view, “we are facing an escalating scenario of conflicts that is fuelling an arc of crisis stretching from the Mediterranean to the Gulf, reaching the Indian Ocean, and bringing war to the heart of Europe: given the number of countries involved and the peoples suffering, it is difficult not to recognise its global scale and the responsibilities that stem from it”, he observed.
