Italy’s
‘iron’ president takes charge
Italy’s
future is in the hands of a former minister and constitutional expert
from Sicily, whose life has been marked by Cosa Nostra.
By JACOPO
BARIGAZZI 12/9/16, 6:10 PM CET
Italian President
Sergio Mattarella, whose personal life and political career have been
marked by the bloody struggle against the Sicilian Mafia, is unlikely
to be daunted by his role in resolving the crisis sparked by Matteo
Renzi’s resignation as prime minister.
As a former
Constitutional Court judge and cabinet minister, he has the hands-on
experience and legal expertise to navigate an undeniably complex
situation: a prime minister with a clear majority undermined by his
own referendum; a country that rejected Renzi’s bid to streamline
lawmaking in last Sunday’s vote; and competing electoral rules
governing the two chambers of parliament that make it almost
impossible to hold fresh elections.
A patrician figure
sometimes described as cold and reserved, 75-year-old Mattarella is
the first president in the history of the republic to hail from
Sicily. Elected in early 2015, he is so far untested by the kind of
challenge that earned his predecessor Giorgio Napolitano the nickname
“King George.” Until now, Mattarella has been seen as a man
promoted to the job on Renzi’s wishes in the hope that he would
stick to the ceremonial aspects of the role.
Since Renzi formally
resigned on Wednesday, however, the president’s Quirinale palace
atop a hill in Rome has been the center of political activity once
more, reliving its former glory as the home of kings and popes.
A former cabinet
colleague from one of Mattarella’s stints as a minister in the late
1990s, the MEP Patrizia Toia, said that beneath his patrician looks,
the silver-haired president is “made of iron.”
“He is a man who
has always inspired deep respect,” said Toia.
In Italy’s stormy
politics, where prime ministers last an average of just one year in
office, presidents often have to steer the ship through choppy
waters. This weekend, following consultations with party leaders,
Mattarella will have to decide whether to appoint a temporary
replacement for Renzi, or give the 41-year-old incumbent a new
mandate until fresh elections can be called, probably in 2017.
Since the mani
pulite corruption scandals two decades ago that wiped out the
traditional parties, the president of the republic has become “a
referee of situations that political forces didn’t manage to
control anymore,” said Stefano Stefanini, who was an adviser to
Napolitano.
The president must
decide who can best convince parliament to approve common electoral
rules for the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, so soon after voters
rejected Renzi’s proposal to trim the powers of the upper house. If
they continue under different rules, the next government risks
dealing with two conflicting majorities. Mattarella was quoted this
week as saying it was “inconceivable” to call early elections
before that dilemma is resolved.
It’s a risky role:
Napolitano was accused by Silvio Berlusconi of plotting to remove him
as prime minister in 2011, when he was replaced by former European
commissioner Mario Monti as the head of a technocratic government.
“Italy and the
Italian government are lucky that in this moment there’s a
president of the republic who is not interventionist,” said Enzo
Balboni, a professor of constitutional law at Milan Catholic
University, who has known Mattarella for over 20 years. Mattarella
will resist the temptation to appoint one of his own protegés to the
prime ministership, said Balboni, and is someone who “works mainly
behind the scenes.”
Against mob rule
Mattarella’s
father Bernardo was a Sicilian political baron for the once-mighty
Christian Democrats. When a former justice minister accused Bernardo
Mattarella in the early 1990s of being the nexus between the party
and Cosa Nostra, Sergio Mattarella hit back, calling the accusation
“miserable.”
Mattarella’s elder
brother Piersanti was elected president of the island’s regional
government when Sergio was a university professor. But in 1980,
Piersanti was killed by the Mafia. Three years later, Sergio decided
to leave academia and become a politician himself.
“Piersanti was
very charismatic, he would have naturally become a leader,” said
Toia.
Although the younger
Mattarella brother is often described as a somewhat grey figure, he
took some bold decisions in his time as a minister, for example when
he resigned as education minister in 1990 in protest at legislation
that would clear the path to power for the media tycoon Berlusconi.
One characteristic
of the current crisis in Italy is that, unlikely on previous such
occasions when serving presidents have turned to the Bank of Italy in
the search for a safe pair of hands to run technocratic governments —
such as Lamberto Dini and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who later became head
of state — this time the speculation includes Pietro Grasso, the
former head of the national anti-Mafia bureau who now presides over
the Senate.
This is partly
because the Italian banking sector is in the throes of a crisis
itself, and because the Italian central banker with most credibility,
Mario Draghi, is busy running the European Central Bank. But it also
reflects Mattarella’s own associations with the fight against
organized crime.
Authors:
Jacopo Barigazzi
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