January 31, 2006

Electoral Propaganda paid for by the taxpayer

The discussion about the “par condicio” and the occupation of the TV with electoral spots in the company of the 9 dwarves and the 9 ballet dancers on the part of the centre right and their speakers of more or less importance (you choose) is distracting us from the waste of public resources used for election propaganda.

It’s unhinged lying publicity done to subtract money from Italian families.


I’ll give you three examples:

- The TV spots about the Great engineering works, those that are useless (but are very useful to some – and how!) and that no-one wants, like the Bridge over the Straits between Sicily and the mainland, the MOSE in Venice, (acronym for  MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico – a system of defence to protect the population from excessively high waters), the high capacity trains – though often referred to as high speed trains – in Val di Susa


- The booklet that the Ministry of Innovation is to send by post to 16 million families illustrating the work of the government and the coming of the digital age (cost: more than 70,000,000 Euro)

- the letter that is to be sent to all the babies born in 2005 with a “big kiss” to tell them that htye have the right to 1000 euro.

On the Internet , this way of operating is called “spamming” and can be punished by law. For the Government, it’s providing information, whereas I call it electoral propaganda with the financial burden on the shoulders of the citizens.

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Addressed to everyone:

I’d like to thank you all for your messages of support, of encouragement and also of criticism.
This space is making it possible for me to see many interesting suggestions, ideas and thoughts from people who really want to make a significant change in this country and who believe that this is possible.
I read your comments every evening.

Unfortunately, I cannot respond to everyone, but every so often I will choose some comments so that I can clarify my own point of view.

Best wishes,
Antonio Di Pietro


Addressed to Giovanni Lo Sardo (01.02.06 11:27)

Dear Giovanni,
To prevent those who have been convicted of an offence from having a seat in Parliament is one of the points in my Electoral Programme under the heading “Competitiveness of the economic system”
For some time I have been showing my support for Beppe Grillo’s
Parlamento “Clean Up Parliament” campaign.
To get back our competitiveness we need to establish credibility. Those convicts who are in Parliament damage the credibility of our country. With your support and trust I intend to remove them from Parliament.

Best wishes,
Antonio Di Pietro

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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BPI, corrupt or incompetent

Last Friday I made a statement about the BPI, trusting in the good intentions of Divo Gronchi.

The good actions required did not happen.

In particular with regard to those who have savings and those who have a few shares.

Olmo and Castellotti, two members of the previous Board of Directors, under the leadership of Fiorani, have been re-elected. This is a shameful situation that I will work towards ending!

My statement is given here.

“The shareholders meeting of the Banca Popolare Italiana taking place tomorrow, 28 January 2006, will nominate the new Board of Directors and the related positions of office.

Divo Gronchi, the Director General, has proposed a list of members of the Board.

Among these are Giorgio Olmo and Guido Castellotti who together with the leader Gianpiero Fiorani were members of the previous Board.

This is unacceptable.

Olmo e Castellotti, as members of the Board, were responsible for watching out for the correct operation of the Bank. They didn’t do it before, so why are they likely to do that now?

They were as responsible as Fiorani was.

The motives for their negligence can only be two: collusion with Fiorani or incompetence. In both these cases they must leave their positions. For this reason, I ask that these two nominations be withdrawn and at the same time that the Banca Popolare Italiana carries out an “action of responsibility” against all the members of the previous Board of Directors.

Gronchi has declared, “the BPI must remain autonomous and independent”. I would like to add that, above all it must be managed by honest people and by the will of the whole body of shareholders.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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January 30, 2006

Graduates and non-Graduates

photo: repubblica.it

During a meeting with Rutelli, the current President of the Council (Prime Minister), raised the issue as to whether I had really gained a degree and then stated that most of his political adversaries are not even graduates.

I talk about facts, not with lies or allusions.

I’m showing him the certificate documenting my degree in jurisprudence gained 19 July 1978.

The same year that the President of the Council signed up to the P2 {the Masonic lodge}

In politics using a university degree as a yard stick is not an absolute. A university degree has value. But at the same time so have attributes like political honesty and the ability to govern, attributes which are absent among those of the centre right.

I would also like to remind the President of the Council that his ex-mate Bettino Craxi wasn’t a University graduate either.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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Flexible Working doesn’t mean Precarious Jobs

Those who govern must permit the citizens, in particularly the young ones, to gain entry to the labour market.

They must be allowed to develop their capacity at the same time as their liberty and dignity is safeguarded.

This has not been happening in the last 5 years and the interest of the business world have had the upper hand.

This government has allowed the use of certain mechanisms to make work flexible (short-term contracts, temporary work, part-time, job sharing). These are legal and in some cases appropriate, but they are being used to keep the worker in a state of permanent precariousness.

This has been experienced by young people in recent years and they have suffered from this.

An example is the decree that put into law the European directive about discrimination at work. It didn’t include the important principle of the inversion of the burden of proof, imposed on the employer by the European directive.

In practise, according to the Government, it is the responsibility of the employer to prove that there has not been a violation of the principle of equal treatment, and it’s not the responsibility of the person discriminated against, often the weaker party to the discussion!

This is why on 19 January, I laid a question down for the European commission about this problem.

Flexible working cannot be transformed into precarious working.

It is a state of affairs that generates uncertainty. It prevents young people from investing in their future, from creating a family.

Work must not be just begging.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Work
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