March 30, 2006

Tremonti’s creative finance

Currently the CDL, not having their own programme, apart from insulting individuals, the speciality of the Prime Minister and once of the pre-march fascists, are always talking about the Unione’s programme. They are doing it while saying falsities that are so evident that they are falling into the pathetic.
In particular when they talk about taxes.
I’m repeating this for the umpteenth time; my objective is that less tax should be paid but that it should be paid by everyone so that it is fair.
Make the finance people pay taxes and the inventors of creative finance which is simply a way of taking value from small shareholders, companies and the State.

The example of this conduct comes from on high.
In 2001, Bell sold 23% of Olivetti to Benetton and Pirelli and made 7,200,000,000 Euro with 3,000,000,000 Euro in capital gains and yet not even one Euro was paid to the State in taxes.
Bell’s shareholders were Hopa, Gpp, Urmett, Mps, Antonveneta, Interbanca, Bc partner, Unipol, the Lonati family, Oak Fund, Gruppo Falck, Gazzoni Frascara.
Bell is a Luxembourg company (a box?) that was managed by Olivetti and Telecom Italia with an “esterovestizione" (comouflaging as though based abroad) for the purposes of tax evasion. It was one of the most important Italian industrial groups.
The consultants of this brilliant operation pocketed (according to the accounts approved this week by Bell) 31,000,000 Euro itemised as “invoices to be received for past contributions”.
Bell’s consultants are the studio Zulli and the studio Tremonti Vitali Romagnoli Piccardi that has been called studio Vitali Romagnoli Piccardi since Tremonti became Minister.

In 2002, the Tax Collection Agency asked Consob for information connected to the Bell sale.
But Tremonti, then Minister of the Economy, eliminated capital gains tax in Italy as well.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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Corruptors in Parliament

Yesterday an explanation of the Milan Appeal Court Judges’ decision in the Sme-Ariosto trial was issued. This explains why on 2 December 2005 they confirmed the sentence to five years imprisonment of Cesare Previti for the crime of corrupting the ex-magistrate Renato Squillante.
I recently gave a short interview to la Repubblica on this topic:

Di Pietro: “Berlusconi should say: I am grateful to the magistrates for allowing me to find out who has been using my money but hiding this from me. And instead what is he doing? He is criminalizing the magistrates. For years he has been against anyone checking up on anything connected with himself, he insults the judges and then he pays them….”

Journalist: “Honourable Di Pietro, you are leader of Italia die Valori and ex judge in Mani Pulite, you are very familiar with the SME trial, now are you being provocatory?

Di Pietro: “I’m not being provocatory, I’m stating my opinion. In a normal country a person like Berlusconi should feel the moral duty to stand back. Let the documents speak.

Journalist: Are you accusing the Prime Minister of being involved?

Di Pietro: “The involvement is demonstrated by the facts: which employee would dream of using his employer’s money without asking his permission?”

Journalist: “Fininvest has repeated that there was no corruption.”

Di Pietro: “Was the money given to Squillante so that he could have white hair? I want to make a political point here, not give a legal opinion.”

Journalist: “What is Berlusconi’s political responsibility?”

Di Pietro: “He has enormous political and moral responsibility. Every time that Berlusconi has discovered someone using his money for corruption, instead of sending them away, he has made sure they’ve been elected in Parliament: Previti, Brancher... We’ve had enough of people hiding behind time limits for convictions, amnesties and laws made for individuals. Berlusconi has a moral responsibility that is not connected to the results of trials whose results depend on the small print.”

Journalist: “Aren’t the Centre Left going to suffer an “own goal” if they use judicial action to attack the Prime Minister?

Di Pietro: “But it’s not possible to stay quiet! This pretence of “goodness” on the part of certain pseudo-legal people is hypocritical. The problem is that Berlusconi and his friends are a group of open-minded people who have decided to bend the institutions to their personal ends and are transforming our country from a State based on rights into a Banana Republic. Watch out that we don’t leave them to have our country for another 5 years.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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March 28, 2006

Ignazio Messina: a candidate with Italia dei Valori

Sciacca – Sicily

I’m publishing this letter from Ignazio Messina, a candidate with Italia dei Valori.

“I’m a candidate for the Senato in the Regions of Veneto and Sicily with Italia dei Valori - Di Pietro’s Party. I share the same moral principles and I am completely engaged with the election programme, as all of this is in line with my personal, professional and political history. I’m a civil lawyer, and I’m also involved with the family farm. I’m married and have 2 splendid daughters. I don’t need to make money from politics.
In 1991 I was one of the founders of la Rete (The Net), Leoluca Orlando’s movement (He is now an Italia dei Valori candidate) and I have been associated with Italia dei Valori from the start. I was a student on the political training course at the centro Pedro Arrupe in Palermo led by Padre Sorge and Padre Pintacuda.
In 1993, at the age of 28, I was elected Mayor of Sciacca, the second town in the Province of Agrigento, with 12,000 votes, having fought only with la Rete against all the other Parties. They were abundantly compromised in previous administrations. I tried to promote a serious renewal of the local political scene. In this effort I found opposition from people of the calibre of Calogero Mannino, ex minister with the DC and Michelangelo Russo, a senator with the DS, both from Sciacca.
In 1997, I was re-elected in an isolated political situation with the Lista Messina (la Rete no longer existed and Italia dei Valori hadn’t yet been founded) and only supported by Rifondazione Comunista and the 12,000 citizens who showed their trust in me.

Because I was engaged in the fight against the mafia and after having been subject to many acts of intimidation, from February 1996 to June 2001 I lived an escorted life. First the local Police performed this duty and after my term of office finished I was protected by the Police and by the Carabinieri. Together with many friends who took part in this experience and with the contribution of people who are of good intention and honest, we set in motion a process of moral revival of city politics. We took a chance that the rule of law can gain the upper hand in relation to bad actions, and that rights could beat abuses that unfortunately were widespread in the past. But it is well known that the worst interest can get the upper hand and thus all those who had been removed from power in the city by the citizens, formed a coalition and passed a “no confidence” motion against me, well knowing that I could not be a candidate for a third term (the law does not allow this). Even though I was outside the institutions I continued my engagement to prevent the business logic from getting the upper hand in politics.

In 2001, I was at the top of the list for Italia dei Valori in West Sicily for the elections to the Lower House for the proportional vote (about 50,000 votes) and in the Sciacca College for the majority voting (7%).

Finally in 2004, I was a candidate for the Town Council, once more in an isolated position because the other parties of the Centre Left (apart from Rifondazione Comunista and Verdi) refused to have Primaries to choose the candidate for Mayor and to define a political programme. This was aimed at guaranteeing the continuation of a failing administrative experience (1999-2004) so much so that the previous Mayor chose not to offer himself for re-election. I was elected with the list that carries my name together with 3 other councillors. The list got the most votes with more than 13% of the ballot. At a local level we had a civic government with political representation on the right and on the left, where our presence represented as explicitly declared by the allies: a guarantee of the rule of law.

For Italia dei Valori, I was one of the national organising group and was the spokesperson in Sicily up until 2004 and right now I am a member of the regional committee.

I am convinced that the mafia and the crooks are not conquered by codes and abbreviations but by people working within institutions and with facts, governed by the respect for the law and not by resorting to compromise nor by taking account of the interest of “someone”. This is true even if that “someone” is of the same political grouping. This must not be action to the detriment of others.

I am convinced that true politics must be at the service of the citizens. It must be supportive and engaged in by those who are not fearful to take courageous choices. It must be demonstrated by each person’s personal history. For these reasons I am convinced that we must give strength to Antonio Di Pietro and to Italia dei Valori".

Ignazio Messina

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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A letter from Franca Rame

I’ve received this great letter from Franca Rame.

“My dear friends,

It’s with pleasure that I’m responding to the invitation of Tonino Di Pietro to present myself on his Blog, and I would like to start with the question that I’m asked most frequently when I make public appearances:

What’s the connection between Franca Rame and Antonio Di Pietro?

In the years 1964-1965, I played in a show called “Settimo: ruba un po’ meno” {Settimo: do a bit less thieving”} that was thirty years before Mani Pulite and it was making detailed accusations about Italian corruption. In 1992, when “Tangentopoli” was happening in Milan, the show was updated in the light of the scandals uncovered with Mani Pulite and it was called “Settimo: ruba un po’ meno 2”, a monologue in which I told the story, without much need to fantasize in the absurd, and gave details of the “thief-behaviour” of Italian politicians. It was a really great success both with the critics and the public. In the story presented in the show, one of the protagonists was obviously Di Pietro, the magistrate. Thus when this very same Di Pietro together with Leoluca Orlando asked me if I would be the candidate at the top of the list for election to the Senato {the Upper House} with IdV {Italia dei Valori} I saw in this candidacy the natural continuation of the civil and political engagement that I’ve always done in the Theatre with my shows. My first task will be to focus attention on the enormous waste in the Public Administration as a first signal of the new political morality.

But what’s the target with the current political situation in Italy? With issues of censorship, of satire and of news?

You all know really well how serious is the issue of information in this country. Whereas once upon a time it was connected with the strongest powers, now it is directly manipulated by the political protagonists (il signor B.) directly for his own election purposes. I’m not going to spend time reminding you of the recent warning of Presidente Ciampi when he exhorted the journalists to keep a straight back!! Anyway already in the bigoted Italy of 1954 the shows that Dario and I did were subject to boycott and eventually to censorship (see Canzonissima of 1962 after which we were ostracised from the RAI for 15 years).
In the meantime it seemed as though something had changed, it seemed that it was possible to express oneself at least using the language of satire and yet, in Berlusconi’s Bulgarian edict, the censored, the ostracised count no longer: Luttazzi, Sabina Guzzanti, Paolo Rossi…and in relation to news? Enzo Biagi, Santoro, Travaglio. Well then, we can’t wait any longer, here I said to myself: we’ll finish up being told what to eat for lunch and for dinner, we need to do something.

What’s my target for civil engagement?

During my artistic career I have always taken action in social issues whether in relation to prisons and prisoners, female emancipation, or workers. In recent years I have devoted my time to issues concerning immigrants and people with disabilities. Since 1998, after Dario Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize we founded the group “un Nobel per i disabili” (a Nobel for disabled people) to which we have gifted the whole of the cash prize (1,689,000,000 Lire). The group, which also obtained other funding, has financed the purchase of 37 mini-buses donated to associations for disabled persons and contributes to the support of families with disabled people who are economically disadvantaged.

I’d like to thank Tonino Di Pietro and all of you IdV supporters for having given me the opportunity, if I’m elected, to take these issues into the Senato. They are issues that have always been close to my heart.
I will do my bit because in this delicate political moment, everyone must put in the effort so that the country does not become the land of conquest for those who think only of their own gain and of that of their family.

A big hug.”

Franca Rame - www.francarame.it

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 27, 2006

Clean Elections

In his weekly production of “Diary”, Enrico Deaglio asked the Minister of the Interior, Giuseppe Pisanu the following question:
”Is there the possibility of electoral fraud with the new system of electronic voting?”

This is a disturbing question that touches 11 million voters, 4 regions of Italy: Liguria, Puglia, Sardinia and Lazio.
In fact this regards the outcome of the coming elections.
The electronic voting system, costing 34,620,000 Euro, involves data entry in 12,680 sections. People employed by Adecco (hurriedly recruited in the last few weeks) will enter the votes into a computer once they have been checked. The data will be checked with the manual votes and then copied onto a USB device. This will be taken by hand to another computer, normally in an educational institution and there the data will be uploaded and transmitted to the Viminale (Headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior).

I’d like to add my own questions to that of Deaglio:
- Why was the contract an urgent procedure and why was it through private negotiation? The contract was for software, hardware, consultancy and the management of operations and it was awarded to EDS, Accenture, Telecom Italia and Adecco. Why did it need to be done urgently when the elections have been planned for 5 years?
- What procedures have been put in place to guarantee the security of the data as it passes through the different stages? In particular, how can you be certain that the USB device is not interfered with or copied and what sort of protection is there on the lines connecting the educational institutions to the Ministry?
- Is it true that there is a case before the courts brought by the Sardinian company Ales Srl against EDS concerning the unlawful use of the electronic voting software? Is there a related public warning to the Ministries of the Interior and of Innovation not to use it?

I also ask the Minister Pisanu if the result of the electronic voting arriving at the Viminale will count in place of the manual vote and if that is the case, if there is any dispute, what are the expected time scales (hours, days, months?) to recover the count as determined by the manual vote?

Finally, I demand that the following should be made public:
- details of the security procedures, as I imagine they must have been worked out.
- a copy of the code of the software (the sequence of instructions)

Anyway, if it is not already so, I ask that the electronic voting has no validity in relation to counting the votes. If the electronic voting were to have even a minimum influence on the counting of the votes I ask for it to be suspended immediately.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 26, 2006

The Ostriches of the CDL

Yesterday evening on Matrix I met up with Giulio Tremonti for an electoral discussion on a range of topics and particularly about the economy.
Tremonti stated that the Italian economy is doing well, that we are respected abroad, that he knows the five rules to revive our country, that it’s natural for the Public Debt to grow (but on this big one I’ve got doubts and even though I heard it with my own ears, I have to listen again to the recording.)
He added that the Biagi law is the panacea for the world of work, that the future of Italy lies in the massive engineering operations like the Messina Bridge and the revival of nuclear.
I could have just said nothing to gain votes.

The state of confusion of the CDL and its obstinate refusal to admit that there is a failing economic situation that they have dragged this country into, to face up to reality, to behave like ostriches (burying their head in the sand), makes me fear that the 2005 Balance Sheet for the State may reserve us unpleasant surprises that I hope can be managed
If even the Minister of the Economy refuses to accept the abnormal growth in the Public Debt, of the collapse of the foreign balance of trade, of tax evasion by one Italian in three, of a continued indebtedness of families, of the spread of precariousness (far different from solid jobs!) that takes away every hope for the future for our young people. If those who should have access to every statistic, deny these evident realities, we are finished.
This Government of the Republic that has lasted the longest time, blames the previous Government for Italy’s decline and for every other current problem.
But, if that is the case, what has it been doing in Government over the last 5 years?
And what has it achieved apart from laws ad personam, amnesties and the depenalisation of false accounting? The citizens don’t need lessons from professor Tremonti to find out that they can’t mange to get to the end of the month. They will hold him to account on 9 and 10 April.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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Enel: profits (and prices) sky high

Enel {the electricity company} has a record Balance Sheet. In 2005 it had net profits at Group level of 3,895 million Euro which is a net increase of 1,264 million Euro in relation to 2004. These are impressive numbers. Grand numbers for a Group that still has the Italian State as the controlling shareholder. And thus, all of us who, basically, have the situation of an electricity monopoly.

Enel has its profits thanks to the monopoly and the lack of strong investments in new sources of energy.
Italian citizens pay prices for energy that are higher than the average for the rest of Europe. They should first bring energy costs in line with those in Europe, and only then spend time to evaluate the dividends and the bids. Reference points for Enel should be the level of service, price competition, the support to revive the Italian economy and the development of renewable energy.

As well as this, the acquisition of Suez does not even seem to have the necessary economic basis. I’m quoting from the article of Alessandro Penati in today’s edition of la Repubblica: “The financing of the OPA would take the combined debt for the Enel-Suez Group to 5 times their operating margin to the limit of the downgrading of the rating: Enel-Suez would become one of the most highly indebted electricity companies in Europe with the objective for years to reduce the debt.”

This is a situation that would not allow for reduction of tariffs to private individuals nor investments connected to innovation.

And, anyhow, I find it profoundly immoral that a service like energy that is essential for our life, in a regime of basic monopoly, yields enormous profits at the expense of the citizens and of industry.
Enel, lower your prices, then think of all the rest.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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March 23, 2006

Genoa for Us

Using information as a tool is something that the Centre Right is doing to an extent that is beyond every limit of decency and it is by now clear that the first, the very first reform after the elections has to be the regulation of the Radio and TV frequencies so as to avoid the arrival of a new fascism.
The American Government is warning its citizens of dangers associated with violent demonstration during the election campaign in Italy. In a year in some big American cities more people are killed than in the whole of Italy. Bush should think of his own citizens, and not engage in electoral propaganda for his mates in Italy.

Giuseppe Romano, Genoa’s Police Chief had the following to say in relation to the incidents in Genoa:
Journalist: “Who were the demonstrators?”
Giuseppe Romano: “Most were school children and university students. And then there was an anarchist or two, a few from the social centres, a few from the no-global movement.”
These are the left wing squads defined by Mr Berlusconi who had to avoid the whistles and the judgement of Italian citizens and so is now obliged to have his events inside buildings and to leave by the back door.

I’m publishing a great letter from, signor Franco Bellè, from Genoa.

Open letter to the President of the Council:

" Respected Cavaliere,
You came to Genoa and you didn’t find it comfortable, Genoa does not love you and you do not love Genoa, but perhaps you haven’t grasped the reason for this and I would like to explain this.
Here, the publicity doesn’t work much, we like things that are concrete, solid, that we can touch. We leave speeches to the others, we look at the facts and yours are not great. Our history speaks for us. We went all around the world when the rest of Europe was living in villages. We have been multicultural and multiethnic for 1000 years and our dialect has many Arabic words not because the Arabs ever dominated us but simply because we like them and we have adopted them.
We evaluate people for what they are and for what they do not according to their colour nor their religion. Here is where big industry was born with big capitalists, the ones of once upon a time, gentlemen who risked their own money, not the money of the shareholders and who at the end, perhaps, left their wealth to the city or founded hospitals. Here is where socialism was born, mutual societies, solidarity.
Genoa was the first to throw out the nazis, who signed a surrender only in this city. Here the MSI people, very different from the followers of Fini that are seen today, wanted to cause provocation and were not received well. We aren’t prejudiced. We put people to the test. We examine the facts and then we decide. And we have decided that we don’t like you. This is not for what you are but for what you do or do badly.
No one has organised an ambush or an attack, we simply wanted you to know that we don’t like you.”
Franco Bellè

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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Luciano D'Ulizia: UNCI for Italia dei Valori

Today I have the pleasure to publish this letter from Luciano D'Ulizia, President of UNCI (Unione Nazionale Cooperative Italiane), having decided to join forces with Italia dei Valori.

“ I’ve always believed in co-operation as a way that man can realise himself and in the application of the principles of solidarity and equality.
This is what has motivated me to dedicate my whole life to the development and growth of the Italian and European co-operative movement. As a co-operator. As President of the Unione Nazionale Cooperative Italiane {UNCI = National Union of Italian Co-operatives} I have always defended, in all locations, co-operation even against the most ferocious and indiscriminate attacks, coming from political parties, Trades Unions and capitalist lobbies. Today, the co-operative movement represents an essential part of the Italian system of production and it has the capacity to create jobs, to respond to the needs and requirements of people: from health to the home, to social services.

In the last five years, co-operative enterprises have created more than 500,000 new jobs out of a total of 1,500,000 new jobs in the country.
In fact, this year, co-operatives have contributed 7% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If we consider that Italian economic growth is stable at 0.2%, it is evident that the co-operative world has avoided this country’s recession and it has formed an important factor in social cohesion.
All this has been possible thanks to the anti-cyclical function of co-operation.
Co-operation creates work out of work, putting together the economic, social and civil resources of a territory.
The co-operative method places the person at the centre of its action as a company.
Results achieved by co-operative companies, as demonstrated by data from Censis and CNEL are significant and should be recognised.
Instead we find that we are defined as a system that is not healthy, almost as though we were a cancer in metastasis on the Italian economy.

Go and say that to the thousands of volunteers and members of social co-operatives that each day are taking care of those who are less fortunate than ourselves and of those excluded by civil society.
Ask the thousands of families who, thanks to housing co-operatives, at last have their own home.
Ask the young people, the researchers, and the immigrants who have a life of dignity by participating in a co-operative company.
In one of the meetings in my election campaign, the president of one co-operative, a man who has a disability and who uses a wheel chair as he has muscular dystrophy, said: “thanks to the co-operative movement I feel like a real man, a person.

Even in the co-operative movement, however, there are shadowed zones. But we cannot and must not pay for the mistakes of others. And for this reason, I have embarked on a journey of reflection on the co-operative ethics and values inside the organisation that I have the honour to represent.
This gave rise to my direct involvement with Italia dei Valori, from the experience of 30 years as a co-operator, from the desire to restore to the co-operative companies the rights that a hostile government seems to ignore. A battle for the rule of law, so that what is an important part of our country does not go unnoticed.

Italia dei Valori has not asked us to take out mebership, nor to pay fees, it has given us the possibility to represent co-operators and the Co-operative Movement in Parliament.”

Luciano D’Ulizia – UNCI National President

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 22, 2006

Licence to Kill

In Calabria, they’ve killed a 28-year-old man, Enzo Cotroneo. They killed him so that he couldn’t testify in the Fortugno case. While they killed him he was talking to his fiancée on the phone. They planned to get married in May and he said to her “They are murdering me”.
They killed him with nine shots from a rifle and a pistol. Enzo is one of 28 other people from Calabria killed in the Locride in the last eighteen months.
And today two men were killed in Scampia, Naples.
And still today many Italian cities have celebrated the day against the mafia.

In the comments to the article called “Impudent Media” on this site, the names of those who have died because of the mafia, have been listed by some readers.
When I read them, one by one, it is a torment as I knew and valued many of them personally.
A consistent part of our country can be compared to the Far West, to a zone controlled by the mafias with whom a Minister of this Government says we need to live with.

For five years we have been shouting about the Islamic wolf, about the war between religions and civilisations, and as far as I am aware, without a single murder in Italy happening as a result of Muslim extremists.
At the same time, in a complicit silence, records show hundreds of crimes committed by the groups of organised criminality.
In these five years parliamentarians have been convicted in the first degree for mafia. But though they have been on trial for mafia, they have received the solidarity of State positions like Pierferdinando Casini after being convicted for mafia.
The economy of our South has been strangled by the mafia, a situation that everyone can witness.
The magistrates and the police forces who risk their lives every day, must be helped by new means and with a true and strong political support. This today is completely absent.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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March 21, 2006

Impudent Media

Italia dei Valori must be so very frightening to the media that it creates a total black out. Perhaps because it has no candidates that have been convicted, as nearly all the other political parties do. Perhaps it’s because its members are not being tried for mafia crimes like the members of other parties. Perhaps it’s because Italia dei Valori doesn’t represent economic or industrial powers. Perhaps because Italia dei Valori is not backed by red co-operatives or Trades Unions. Perhaps it’s because Italia dei Valori wants to affirm the principle of the rule of law in Italy without stopping in front of the so-called strong powers.

I want to leave aside the private TV channels and the print media controlled by the President of the Council since they are used exclusively to favour his re-election, not to provide information, a real banana-state situation.
But I can’t avoid being surprised and to feel a certain nausea in the intolerable and antidemocratic behaviour in relation to myself and to Italia dei Valori on the part of the most important newspapers in this country and on the part of the RAI.

It is correct to indicate the people who manage these organisations and the positions they hold as responsible for this reprehensible behaviour, they are:
- Paolo Mieli, Director of Il Corriere della Sera
- Ezio Mauro, Director of la Repubblica
- Giulio Anselmi, Director of la Stampa
- Claudio Petruccioli, President of the RAI

It’s not difficult for me to think that these gentlemen respond to a logic of the parties and of power that is completely outside that of Italia dei Valori and that this and only this is the reason for their behaviour.
In the most recent opinion polls, Italia dei Valori is shown to be growing, to be the fourth party in the Unione after Margherita, DS and Rifondazione, and yet it is not visible in the newspapers. My most recent interview goes back perhaps to the time of Mani Pulite (Clean Hands), and in TV I often appear holding up the “par condicio” law, as seen for my presence on the Ballarò transmission.
Unione and CDL in this pincer action towards Italia dei Valori operate the same logic and with the same fears: to have to be in Parliament with an honest force for which the words “Rule of Law” are more important than anything.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 20, 2006

The Debt Culture

These five years have turned upside down values that have always been part of Italian culture. One of these is saving, once considered to be a virtue. We taught our children to save and often we gave them a Savings account as a gift with a tiny amount to start off. At the same time we warned them not to buy anything that they couldn’t afford.
It was pure good sense then and it still is.

Today in Italy, first they sell illusions, then they sell you money. The finance people do this as do the banks with the blessing of the government in an attempt to “get the economy to take off again”.
The task of politics should not be to get Italians into debt as a favour to the banks and to make the Gross Domestic Product grow, neither should it be to create a favourable culture so that that happens.
To dangle 100% mortgages at variable rates as an offer to Italian families so that they can buy their first home when this is inevitably destined to turn into an insolvency situation is profoundly wrong. Just as it is wrong to allow widespread publicity and a culture such that we need to get into debt to go on holiday or to buy the latest technological wizardry.

We have been living in Wonderland, built from our debts and the loss of fundamental values.
And the coach driver who has brought us into this false world that is without ideals seems to have disappeared off the scene as we saw with his staging with the Confindustria.
We have to start off again, we have to turn the page, to return to values that made Italy economically great as happened in the period after the war.

The protection of buying power and of the value of our savings are two topics that must be tackled by the next Government so that we can find an exit from a terrible film, in which many people had thought themselves to be entrapped by an unscrupulous impresario.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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March 19, 2006

The point of no return

photo from news.bbc.co.uk

All the Italian economic indicators are negative. The Financial Times in a service dedicated to the decline of Italy signed by Desmond Lachman says:  “Italy follows Argentina down the same road to ruin”.

The collapse of exports, the rise in the public debt, increase in unemployment, loss of competiveness, domestic debts, net reduction in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), halving of buying power.
Confindustria, ISTAT, the Bank of Italy, Trades Unions, Italian and foreign financial publications all publish the same alarming data.
We have had five years of political marketing, of negating the truth, of company collapse, fruit of a Government that is merely amateurs playing with the public good, but definitely professionals in their own private business affairs.
We are near to a point of no return.
We need to take off again and take control of those accounts in the State machine that are out of control and give them greater efficiency. We need to recover money lost through tax evasion. We need to get into line with European indicators in terms of costs and quality of things like telecommunications, transport, and energy.

These are concrete things that we can put into effect immediately.
The next elections must mark a major turning point and for this reason we need a massive victory for the Unione.
The 4/5 points separating us according to the latest opinion polls could be insufficient.
In Parliament we must have a large majority so that we can govern without having to contend with the manoeuvres of lobbies and of the CDL parliamentarians.
Not even one single vote can be lost.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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Our Young People

Young French people are demonstrating against the approval of the law for the first job “CPE” Contract Première Embauche.
According to the intentions of the French Government, the law should reduce unemployment.
As the young people see it, it’s exactly the opposite. For them, employment would become “precarious” with no prospect of development.
In fact the CPE allows for the sacking of a young person up to the age of 26 years with no reason given.
Unfortunately the demonstrations are degenerating into clashes with the police and general disorderliness. Some commentators are talking of a “French Wind” that may blow into Italy.
Employment rates for young people in Italy have reached one of their worst levels. Data from OCSE show unemployment levels at 24% and starvation wages for 60.9% of the young people up to the age of 25, at less than two thirds of the average salary for a full time worker.
The Bank of Italy has estimated in its Bollettino statistico that 49.8% of the Italian people in the age range from 15 to 29 years have found work in 2005 only thanks to “short term contracts”.
Data from IRES CGIL shows that 22.3% of those with a job in the age range between 25 and 32 earns less than 800 Euro a month.
Overall, we can see that this is a disaster on the scale of Caporetto falling on the young people, and not a growth in employment.
Here if something has grown it’s the debts of this country and the cheek of the current Minister of the Economy who sheds doubt on the data from ISTAT and from the Bank of Italy.
It is a serious situation that must be dealt with straight away by the next Government to review the Biagi Law which unfortunately has often been applied only to increase company profits whilst ignoring the future of the country, the only one that we have: our young people.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Work
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March 17, 2006

Using a Lie as a Political Tool

It's well known that promises made by politicians are often compared to those of sailors. I also talk about this in a video that you can see by clicking on the icon on the right hand strip of this blog. In Italy, uniquely among democratic countries, the lie and the negation of the truth are unfortunately tolerated when coming from those who represent the citizens.

It's almost as though lies are a part of the professional tool-kit of a good politician, who can say and not say, affirm and retract, misunderstand and be misunderstood.
The photos of the so-called “pianists” in Parliament who voted for themselves and for absent colleagues have been published in the last few years by many newspapers, but these parliamentarians are still there, after an action, which is an act of derision and is lying to the electors as they have altered the outcome of the voting in Parliament.

Bill Clinton was investigated for years for having lied about a presumed relationship; our President of the Council has lied about his membership of the P2 and was convicted in the first and second instance and was subsequently prescribed. The tribunale di Venezia considered him guilty without any shadow of doubt.
Clinton would have retired to a private life.
In Italian public life the lie is no longer to be tolerated. Those who lie and who deny the truth cannot represent the citizens and our country.

In the next legislature, I will not fail to publish the news on my site every time a politician is proved to have told a lie.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 15, 2006

Petruccioli nominated by Mediaset as President of RAI

Claudio Petruccioli is now viewed as one who did not come to the defence of Lucia Annunziata. In fact he criticised her for having simply performed her duty as a journalist. Lucia Annunziata is a journalist of the RAI, a company that in all ways belongs to the Italian people, not to Mediaset.

Petruccioli had already shown how he can be indulgent towards Mediaset by not intervening when there was the great “throw out” from the RAI. This was when the man who is (but not for much longer) President of the Council was in Bulgaria and issued the diktat that Biagi, Santoro and Luttazzi should be sacked from the RAI.

He didn’t lift a finger following that when the journalist Massimo Fini and the comic Paolo Hendel were kept away.

The friendship that connects Claudio Petruccioli and Fedele Confalonieri is well known but perhaps less well known is that the TG5 journalist Giangiacomo Mazzucchelli is not only working for Mediaset but is also the son of Petruccioli’s wife. There’s nothing illegal in that, but the connection between Petruccioli and Mediaset seems evident, above all in his choices.

Any president of the RAI must take care of the information available for Italian people, and not take care of the head of the government, nor of his editorial interests. I don’t believe that the TV spectators approved of the total lack of respect shown by Berlusconi in relation to Lucia Annunziata and his arrogance in explaining that Enzo Biagi should have been satisfied to be thrown out by him in as much as he got a hefty payment at that time.

The president of the RAI should have shown that he was indignant. Petruccioli didn’t do this. In fact he did the contrary.

It is evident that the Italian people are not the audience to which he defers. After the elections he must of necessity take act of this.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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March 14, 2006

With no shame

Pierferdinando Casini UDC member and president of the Lower House has expressed his total disapproval of the Unione lists, which he says include dangerous extremists, aligned with those people who created disorder in Milan on Saturday. He concluded his speech that was as passionate as it was hypocritical, with: "Shame"
Before making remarks about the Unione, Casini should have a look at what is going on inside his own party.

I'll help him by reminding him of some of his fellow members:
Lorenzo Cesa, UDC national secretary, under investigation for associating to commit a crime and for fraud;
Giuseppe Drago, leaving the position as undersecretary, convicted by the Tribunale di Palermo and sentenced to 3 years and 3 months for embezzlement and abuse.
Totò Cuffaro, on trial at the Tribunale di Palermo for seriously aiding and abetting Cosa Nostra;
Sodano Calogero, senator, who has so far been in prison for a total of 6 years;
Romano Saverio, leaving the position as undersecretary, has been investigated and acquitted for mafia and corruption, and under investigation for external complicity.

Call these people tomorrow to come to the party headquarters and ask them to resign from all of their positions and not to put themselves forward as candidates for election until the investigations and possible trials have concluded.
After that, and only after that, can Casini allow himself to give any judgement about the Unione.
For the moment may he be ashamed of himself.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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Candidates of Italia dei Valori abroad

Casa Rosada. Buenos Aires

I’m publishing the profiles of the candidates of Italia dei Valori in the constituencies that are outside Italy.
To view the list, click on the icon showing a map of the world on the right hand strip. You’ll also see their email addresses so that electors can write to them directly.
I’d like to thank Italians abroad for all the respect and warmth that they have shown towards myself and towards Italia dei Valori.
I believe that the Italian communities abroad are an immense resource, for the social, cultural and economic development of our nation.
This is a patrimony that in recent years has been overlooked and undervalued.

Today I am in Buenos Aires to receive the Honorary citizenship from the Mayor Jorge Telerman who explained the honour thus: The fundamental role of Di Pietro in the development of the “Clean Hands” ('manos limpias') investigation and his political dedication in Italy as well as in the European Parliament, in particular as ex-president of the delegation for relations with the countries of South America and Mercosur.”
For me this is a great honour that I definitely was not expecting.
It’s recognition that fills me with pride while recognising the merits of others. It reinforces the strong connection that has been established over the years with the countries of South America and with Argentina in particular.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 12, 2006

Clockwork Incidents

Photo: repubblica.it

The incidents between autonomous groups and the Police with cars set alight, people knocked on the head and some arrests, paralysed Saturday afternoon in Milan in the busy area round corso Buenos Aires.
The autonomous groups who committed acts of vandalism and who attacked the police must be condemned without a doubt.
At the same time the neofascist demonstration of the Fiamma Tricolore, must also be condemned. It is not clear who gave them authorisation nor why this should have been given. They went across Milan before these incidents and the autonomous groups were protesting about that.
The demonstration of the Fiamma Tricolore, allied with the CDL has many times expressed support for fascism; they have displayed swastikas and given fascists salutes. These are both acts that are today even forbidden inside a football stadium and yet they could happily do this in the streets of Milan.
It is also to be remembered that Luca Romagnoli, secretary of MS-Fiamma has also distinguished himself for Holocaust denial.

The incidents in Milan seem to be have been designed in a desk exercise. At a time when Storace resigns because of telephone tapping for political reasons, Lorenzo Cesa secretary of the UDC is under investigation by the Procura della Repubblica di Catanzaro for fraud and associating to commit a crime and Silvio Berlusconi is once more to be on trial for corruption in judicial proceedings, for the 600,000 dollars paid to Mills. In a moment like this the incidents in Milan represent a breath of fresh air for the CDL, whose leader can (once again) allow himself to say that: “The magistrates are the scourge of our democracy”.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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March 11, 2006

Electoral telephone tapping

The tapping of telephone conversations of Piero Marrazzo and of Alessandra Mussolini during the election campaign for the 2005 Regional elections for Lazio represents an episode of extreme seriousness.

The tapping is said to have been the responsibility of civil servants and is believed to have had the aim of getting Francesco Storace re-elected.

Services that are deviant unfortunately belong to the history of our country and even espionage internal to the Government coalition is not a surprise in itself.

Telephone tapping is legal only if it is authorised by magistrates.Who guarantees that today during this election campaign, some State services aren’t listening in to conversations of the Unione leaders and of the main candidates standing in opposition to this Government?

I too have been a victim of telephone tapping, as is shown in the sentence of the GIP (Giudice per le Indagini Preliminari ) at Brescia in 1998. This said it had been proved that Berlusconi and Previti had commissioned Roberto Gasparotto to record a telephone conversation from the house in Arcore {Berlusconi’s residence} of a telephone conversation driven by them and then sent to the prosecutor of Brescia as a false accusation against myself.
At that time the work of delegitimisation was not in the public eye in the media because it was useful for those on the right and on the left that a public figure who could be the reason why consensus might be removed from them, might be the subject of an investigation.

The fact that Francesco Storace resigned as a Minister was a correct action.
Here we are in a situation that could lead up to a coup d’état.

The absence of the previous centre-left Government in discussions on important issues like the framework of the radio and television system and in relation to conflict of interests allowed the CDL to win the elections. Now the season of discounts is finished.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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March 09, 2006

Information is Power

During the election campaign the ”par condicio” law is in force. This allows access to the Radio and TV broadcasts for all the political groups. The reason for this law is obvious: if a sole party were to be able to use the media that would create an anti-democratic situation in which the elector would be denied the possibility of choice.

If this is true before the elections, it is even more true for the whole duration of the legislature, for the last 5 years.

Five long years in which the TVs have been used by a single individual for propaganda, in which public and private information has been at the service of private interests, not the interests of the Italian people.
The ownership of information media is power, but power in a democracy must reside in the will of the people, in the citizens, not in particular economic groups.

To avoid this situation that is putting democracy in Italy at risk, there’s only way route: to avoid having one economic unit with the majority ownership of even a single private TV with national coverage.
In the future we should not allow the TV channels to condition political choices in favour of who owns them. This is a risk that we cannot permit.

I believe that the reform of the radio and TV system must be one of the priorities of the next Unione Government to avoid our country going through dangerous anti-democratic stretches like those that we have been experiencing.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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March 08, 2006

Tax Evasion

Tax evasion is a congenital problem in our country that has been getting worse recently. This has been a time of amnesties, of time limits for offences, of the depenalisation of false accounting. The message that this Government has given to tax evaders has been a message of tolerance and of complicity.
A message that could not be taken up by pensioners and employees who always pay up to the last lira, but a message that is plainly taken in by those who are without a sense of civic duty.
A country where taxes are not paid, that instead is indulgent to those who don’t pay, is not a civil country.

The example must come from the top, from the Government, the penalty for tax evasion must be as certain as possible.
And this has not been the case.
The amnesties have undermined the trust that citizens have in the equity of the State. These are amnesties that have rewarded illegal behaviour and have penalised those who pay regularly, leading even these into tax evasion.
The existence of the State is based on the income from taxes. Evasion should be considered a really serious offence because it destroys the bases of the structure of the State and the principles of social solidarity.

Public services, health, transport, schools, all are based on the contributions of the citizens.
Those who don’t participate, the so-called “crafty ones” bring about the degradation of social services and the increase in the tax rate for those who do pay, who at this point are made fools of twice over.
Tax evaders should be severely dealt with, for social justice and to guarantee that our country has the financial resources for development. Today it’s estimated that tax evasion is at 30% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If these resources were recovered, even partly, then the country could take off again.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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March 07, 2006

Electoral Lists

Italia dei Valori has handed over its lists for the different regions of Italy and for abroad.
On this Blog and on the website of Italia dei Valori I will publish the profiles of all the candidates.
The people who have accepted to become candidates are all without exception, without convictions and are not currently on trial.
If in the future an elected representative of Italia dei Valori is convicted or accused of crimes, it will be my duty to inform the citizens and start the process for their resignation or for a temporary suspension if there are investigations preparatory to establishing whether a crime has been committed.

In recent days there have been some comments doubting the integrity of some of the people whose names are in the lists of Italia dei Valori. I will ask the candidates to respond on this Blog and to address the points raised so that there can be complete transparency between the electors and the elected.
Transparency and the rule of law are two sides to the same coin. Of my money and of the money of Italia dei Valori.
I hope in the future that they will be the undeniable values of Italian politics.
I believe that Italians are tired of a country dominated by privileges and lies, tired of a situation of moral and economic degradation.
Transparency and the rule of law must be fundamental pre-requisites for politicians, together with competence that is demonstrated in relation to the activities that they are required to perform.
A new breed of politicians, a new class of politics that is clean and serving the electorate. This is one of the tasks, perhaps the most important one of Italia dei Valori.
I am not hiding my bitterness and even anger to see among the lists of other parties that there are names of people who have been convicted of serious offences and who are accused of such offences and whose trial is going on.
These are people who cannot be judged directly by the electors who can only vote for the list and not for the individual candidates. These are choices made on the basis of the logic of power or in connivance with Party Secretaries.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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March 06, 2006

The Euro and Italy

Up until now the Euro has saved us from an economic situation comparable to that of Argentina. The strong Euro has allowed Italians to preserve the value of their savings (for those who have managed to save) and it has allowed the companies to plan investments, and to buy goods abroad. In the past, before the Euro, with the so-called competitive devaluations, the lira was in a stable position as one of the weakest currencies of the developed nations.

Without the Euro, with the old lira, Italy would not have stayed on its feet. The lira would have been heavily devalued because of the growing public debt and the negative economic parameters marking out the last five years.
The anti-Euro propaganda denies a great result obtained by our country, and for this result we need to thank Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Romano Prodi.

The price increases have not been the fault of the Euro, but the fault of the amateur way the economy has been managed without any market controls (electricity, gas, telephone, rents, food).
The Euro has kept us afloat in these years, in spite of the Government’s obviously anti-Europe policies. The Euro is merely another fig leaf put forward by these lost amateurs, trying to justify their failures.

The reduction in value of the share prices of many large Italian companies in the last few years is certainly not attributable to the Euro, but to the weakness of the industrial system. The increase in the public debt, the disaster of the balance of trade have little to do with the Euro, but a lot to do with the lack of development policies for Italy.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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March 05, 2006

The failure of the Bossi-Fini law

Yesterday in Padua during a Lega Nord conference at which Borghezio was present, there were clashes between demonstrators and the police. Borghezio’s provocatory and racist language was not justification for violence and those who were responsible for violent acts must be brought to justice.

In a democracy, to eliminate people like Borghezio it’s enough not to vote for them.

The representatives of the Lega are basing their election campaign on the problems of those who are clandestines and in more general terms on those who come from countries outside the European Union.

This is a position that touches on the ridiculous, given that the Bossi-Fini law has the name of the man who founded the Lega together with a person who has never even drunk a cup of coffee with him.

This is a failed law that has not managed to impose the rule of law, as the Centre-Right said it would, while it completely rules out solidarity.

Our prisons are full of people from outside the European Union; the disembarkation of clandestine people continues all the time. The streets and the urban peripheries are full of desperate foreigners enrolled by organised crime for drug dealing or prostitution. This situation can be put down to the Government, to the Lega. To put this as your battle cry for the election is to lie to the electors about your own incapacity.

The current law must be changed. Clandestines who have no permission to stay must be returned to their countries immediately. Penalties for those who make profits from people-trafficking should be made more severe. Those people from countries outside the European Union who have been convicted of crimes should serve their prison sentence in their own countries wherever possible. Having said this, for those people from countries outside the European Union who have the appropriate permissions according to Italian law, there needs to be a plan for true integration, services, Italian language learning, work, the possibility of accessing housing.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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Protecting the investment in a home

Three out of four mortgages in Italy are at a variable rate. The cost of money is at 2.5% and it is expected that it will increase by a significant amount in the next few months.
This increase is not just a technicality, but it will have a direct effect on thousands of families in Italy through the increase in the mortgage repayments for their main home.
By the end of last year, many families, because of the economic down turn, found that they couldn’t manage to meet the mortgage repayments and so had to give up owning their own home.

Unfortunately with the increase in interest rates in the future, this could happen again for an even greater number of families. I believe that we can’t just wait and watch while the value of savings destined for investment in a home are destroyed simply because of market forces.

For this reason, Italia dei Valori will put forward measures in the next legislature to support those families having difficulty in meeting the mortgage repayments on their own home.
Italia dei Valori will also set up a Government study group to monitor housing costs to avoid cartels and speculation.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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March 04, 2006

Negating the Evidence

Giulio Tremonti, the Minister of the Economy said he was positively surprised by the ratio of the deficit to the Gross Domestic Product.

This hint of economic upturn “Surprised even me”, he declared.

That Tremonti is “satisfied” reminds me of Said Al Sahhaf, Saddam Hussein’s Minister of Information when denying the presence of the American Army in Baghdad. The Italian economy is going to pieces, by now no-one can be unaware of that, except for Tremonti.

The facts: zero growth in 2005; 100.000 jobs lost in a year; primary balance down from 3.2% in 2001 to 0.5% ; State sector  income needs 10,000,000,000 Euro for the months of January and February 2006, which is double that for the first two months of 2005.

The State is almost bankrupt, but Tremonti-Al Sahhaf, talks of an “objectively positive” result.

The only result that is “objectively positive” for this Government has been the doubling of the profits of the current temporary President of the Council. In these five years, Italians have lost jobs, become “precarious” workers, and have seen the value of their earnings halved.

The Italian economy has been managed by incapable people. This is demonstrated without the need for further analysis by the results that they have delivered.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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March 02, 2006

Election Campaign

Italia dei Valori has presented the posters of its election campaign:
- Parliament without convicts
- Work and dignity
- True information

They are short messages, but self explanatory: return to the rule of law, relaunch of the economy and of job opportunities, access to information that is not politicised or controlled by economic groups.

The hands that appear with the message will accompany us in this final month before the election.

A month that will be hard, very hard. I’ve already indicated more than once on this Blog that the mass media organisations, the newspapers, the TV and radio have difficulty in tolerating the existence of Italia dei Valori.

They see it as a body outwith the “particracy” and foreign to the so-called strong powers.

The media in Italy respond to their owners, to their editors, not to their readers, not to the people. This is a really dangerous situation for democracy.

All those who believe in the values of Italia dei Valori, in its ideas, in the people representing it, are invited to print the programme and the posters and to distribute them. And also to let others know about this Blog by sending an email with the option “Send to a friend”.

I am sure that with your help we will manage to change things, to turn the page, (currently an ugly page), so that we can set off on a new life.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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March 01, 2006

Franca Rame with Italia dei Valori

Franca Rame has accepted the proposal from Italia dei Valori to be the top-of-the-list candidate for the Senate in Lombardy and in Emilia. Franca is a woman who has always fought for social issues. She’s an honest person. Her decision makes me very proud.
Today she gave an interview to la Repubblica, and some of it is given here:

“I’m putting my name forward as a candidate because these elections are too important, because I think that many people on the left could once more choose to desert the voting booths because of a lack of credible candidates.”

“Di Pietro’s Party has been the only one to offer me the possibility of entering the Senate: we are at war and we cannot stay looking in through the window.”

“Dario Fo and Beppe Grillo are convinced that this could be useful.”

“I will do without my salary as a Parliamentarian and I will use the money to shed light on the enormous waste that exists in the State accounts. For 50 years I have been engaged with the accounts of our company: I’m an expert and I’ve never made false entries in the accounts.”

She also added a sentence that is surely excessive in relation to myself, that I’m adding, but not just as a compliment to myself:

“Di Pietro did really magnificent things as a judge, glorious things.”

Anyone who has read the article has understood that:
- I hold Franca Rame in high esteem, as she does me.
- Franca is happy to be a candidate with Italia dei Valori

However, the title of the article suggested content that is completely the opposite:
“FRANCA RAME: “WE ARE AT WAR NOW SO EVEN DI PIETRO IS OK”,
And it is well known that readers often just read the titles without reading the articles.
Who is directing the people writing the titles?
Which party does la Repubblica think that Franca Rame should represent?
I believe that their readers want to know that.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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Nobody is above the law

Calderoli’s provocations on TV have caused disorder at an International level. Calderoli was a Minister representing the Italian people. His behaviour was inexcusable, even though the reaction that followed and that caused scores of deaths was not justifiable.

The behaviour of two carabinieri can unfortunately cause analogous effects in Italy.

Last Sunday in Sassuolo a man from Morocco who had no fixed address and who should not have been in this country, but in his own country if there were to exist a law better than the Bossi-Fini law, was arrested for having attacked two carabinieri. If the immigrant had been taken to the station of the Carabinieri for questioning and later arrested if it was certain that offences had been committed, the episode would have concluded normally.

Last Sunday in Sassuolo a man from Morocco who had no fixed address and who should not have been in this country, but in his own country if there were to exist a law better than the Bossi-Fini law, was arrested for having attacked two carabinieri. If the immigrant had been taken to the station of the Carabinieri for questioning and later arrested if it was certain that offences had been committed, the episode would have concluded normally.
That didn’t happen. The man from Morocco was handcuffed and was severely beaten up in the street.
Some people from North Africa filmed everything with a videophone, and anyone can see the film on the Internet.
In Italy and in all Arab countries as well.
The beating was quite gratuitous; those who represent the law must not violate it. No one is above the law.
Episodes like this that can be seen in the film have the only result to increase the risk of attacks in our country and to increase the welling up of hatred.
I hold the Force of Carabinieri in high esteem and I offer them my solidarity and have no doubt that they will take action against the inconsiderate authors of this violence.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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