“I have never participated in the elections for the Quirinale”. He tells the truth, Francesco D’Onofrio, class of ’39, historical face of Christian democracy, undersecretary at Palazzo Chigi with Andreotti from ’91 to ’92, then UDC education minister with Berlusconi (“I did not want to go to the Viminale, in ’94, better than Maroni” ). It does not lend itself to totonomi for the Hill, except for the fact of saying that “Draghi would be excellent as head of state”, and then warn, speaking with Adnkronos, of the “aberrant scenario of a prorogatio of powers due to the inertia of politics , if the key to elect Mattarella’s successor is not found “.
D’Onofrio, for a long time in Parliament, as a senator and then as a deputy, found the presidents of the Republic beautiful and made up, in the years of Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama. But on the next round of Colle, while reading the newspapers in an almost deserted Senate, after a quick lunch in the buvette, he does not hide ideas, nor the curiosity to know how it will end “because we are faced with something new: it might as well it happens, as someone says, that on the first ballot no name is put forward, and as the Constitution provides, there is such a stalemate as to have to leave things as they are, with Draghi remaining prime minister and Mattarella al Colle “.
“We would arrive at the extension of the two. Incredible and impressive scenario”, says the former undersecretary of the seventh government Andreotti, almost fascinated. “There are random contingencies in the election of the head of state”, then underlines the emeritus professor of public law of Sapienza. “But when there were parties, during the first republic, the head of state was almost marginal, the parties counted, now I want to understand what happens as soon as the parliament votes, if no one votes the problem is very serious” because “without the starting tandem is something else entirely “, he says again, referring to a possible political agreement on the double track Chigi-Quirinale. “Amato, Casini, Cartabia, Berlusconi, are all important names, but now we are in a new reality, up to Napolitano there were parties that organized the elections, now this is no longer the case”.
‘I’d be happy for Casini or Berlusconi al Colle’
“First of all we need to see what will happen at the first vote, the hypothesis of the extension and the powers in office, as a constitutional fact would be really great news, but now everything is really possible”, insists D’Onofrio. “Casini is a friend, I would be happy, even for Berlusconi I would be very happy, I see reasons proclaimed against him in a wild way, of course it is clear that he would be a candidate of a part that is a majority, but Mattarella was also elected with a simple majority. of the grades “, recalls the professor.
Now the reasoning is dedicated to the personal data of the president. “In my opinion, age matters, the Constitution provides that the head of state is young, who is at least 50 years old, that is, he describes a profile of a fully functional person, I believe that even Mattarella as a jurist and constitutionalist, looks at this data, he certainly it is fully operational now, but the mandate lasts seven years and would carry it forward with age “. A speech, the registry one that is valid “also for Berlusconi, for Amato and for others who have advanced in years”.
Then there is space to remember the presidents of the past years. On Francesco Cossiga he tells how “with Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, then a priest in Santa Maria in Trastevere, we met after mass to discuss theology, together with Enzo Carra. It was Paglia himself who asked Berlusconi to become a minister”, reveals D’Onofrio . “From him – he says, referring to the Sardinian president – when the five ministers of the left DC resigned” in July 1990 “including Sergio Mattarella, the Christian Democrats, starting with De Mita, who had done so much to elect him, they expected to dissolve the Chambers, but Cossiga decided to go ahead, giving the interim to Andreotti on everything, from that moment there was a total break, the pickaxe’s utterances began, who had previously been a ‘normal’ president “” He – recalls – first of all he had the great intuition that the first Republic was ending “.
‘Ciampi re-evaluated the tricolor’ – ‘Italian authority in the world guaranteed by Draghi’
D’Onofrio recalls the failed presidency of Aldo Moro in 1971: “He was however a political leader, it would have been the right personal approach for a political leader, but he was not like Pertini, like Gronchi, like Cossiga, a unitary figure”. “I didn’t know Leone personally, but I understand the logic of the Neapolitan criminal lawyer who goes to the Quirinale, they mocked him unfairly”, he says of the sixth president forced to resign.
“Ciampi, on the other hand, re-evaluated the Italian flag, he was passionate about national unity”, he says of the president of Livorno. “Scalfaro then came from the conservative Catholic world, when Cossiga as president made the speech on constitutional reforms, he was president of the Chamber, and he was very angry for this anomalous message from the head of state, he did not want a debate in Montecitorio, he criticized Cossiga saying ‘ but who does he think he is? ‘”.
We return to current events, to today’s puzzle: “Draghi al Colle would be excellent, he comes from the Bank of Italy, then he was head of the White Central European Union, so he is naturally inclined to seek a common ground, he is a convinced European, but that happens to the government if he goes to the Quirinale? “asks D’Onofrio.
‘The decisive point will be the first vote for the Quirinale’
“Would we arrive, as Giorgetti says in de facto semi-presidentialism? If this happens, he would be the President of the Republic and would have to deal with the government, a scenario on which the Financial Time is also reflecting”. For D’Onofrio “the Italian authority is given by the Draghi government more than it seems, the Quirinale has never been at the center of the European plots, so he at Colle would always be in government, in disguise. And I don’t think so about this. however, there may be a political agreement “.
“Then – explains the former Christian Democrat notable – the aberrant hypothesis of a prorogatio would not be the consequence of a political agreement, but the fruit of inaction, of not knowing what to do”. “The decisive junction will be the first vote, if it is not very large for Draghi and he does not accept it with another ‘ready’ government then we can talk about the other names, Cartabia, Amato and even Casini, which if it were him the elected president would be sensational, the UDC would have one of us at Colle, a mayor, that is Mastella in Benevento, and I emeritus at the University of Sapienza “.
(by Francesco Saita)
Source-www.adnkronos.com