April 30, 2006

Franco Marini president of the Senate

The election of the president of the Senato with the victory of Franco Marini has been an “add-on” to the poisonous election campaign conducted by the Centre Right. The opposition has declared that it doesn’t want to allow the new majority to govern.

The opposition continues to talk of election fraud and I believe that at this point there is enough evidence for denouncing them. The opposition is indifferent to the destiny of the country; and  for many aspects it has demonstrated this indifference during the 5 years it was in government. However, the opposition is attentive and watching out when it’s a matter of defending the interests of the entrepreneur Berlusconi, the inspiration of this tactic of “cupio dissolvi” {I want to die}.
I believe that the government and opposition can face up to each other, even vigorously but at the same time they must have as their main reference point, the good and the stability of the country.

The one who today is denouncing a situation of weakness of the majority in the Senato is the same person who caused this by approving an election law that was conceived exclusively to create ingovernability.

At the moment the citizens are judging us and I believe that their patience is running out. Let’s try to be more serious and more responsible in exercising this our role to be their representatives.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 29, 2006

Nasiriyah

A captain in the Parachute Regiment, Nicola Ciardelli, and 2 officers in the Carabinieri, Franco Lattanzio and Carlo De Trizio, died in Nasiriyah in an attack by a high powered bomb. They died while carrying out their duty as Italians. This is not true of the one who sent them to Iraq with the motivation of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist.

Today there are discussions about the withdrawal of our soldiers, a withdrawal that has anyway already been defined and that will take place within an established time frame. What is not discussed is the political responsibility of the Berlusconi government that sent our soldiers into a war zone without a true, real, justifiable reason. Who other than the previous government has on their conscience the young people killed for a useless war, that Italy did not declare?
The carabinieri deserve all our respect. Their families must be given help in every way by the State. I hold myself responsible to ensure that this will happen.
The Centre Right however, deserves a whole hearted condemnation for having aligned our foreign policy with the interests of the United States in the Middle East and for having exposed Italian soldiers, and the whole of our country to the tensions and to possible retaliation.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 27, 2006

Slaughter on Italian Roads

In Verona two 23-year-olds were killed by another car in a head-on collision. The other car was on the wrong side of the road and was driven by a person of Romanian origin who was under the influence of alcohol. He was released the next day.In Rome on Sunday, a car driven by an Italian who was drunk, went onto the Pontina {road SS 148 leading into Rome} in the wrong direction and caused 3 deaths.

In Catania 4 young people are dead as a result of a Cuban citizen travelling in the wrong lane.
Again in Verona a Mercedes, while doing a U turn, killed a young married couple on a motorbike.
The number of road accidents causing the death of one or more people in Italy is horrifying. The cause of these deaths is often the irresponsible attitude of a driver. I believe that the penalties currently being handed out should be made more severe and in really serious cases like those mentioned here, charges of multiple aggravated homicide should be brought.
Accidents are often caused by alcohol. Checks are rare, almost inexistent. They need to be tightened up with the confiscation of the driving licence for those who give positive results. Road traffic accidents in Italy cause thousands of deaths. It’s a war. Now is the time to face up to this problem openly. No compromise.

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April 26, 2006

Stop to incinerators

Incinerators or thermovaluers, are financed in Italy with public money as they are put on the same footing as renewable energy.
Without public finding the incinerators could not exist. Do they merit this investment? The reply that I feel is appropriate is completely negative. The construction of incinerators is fruit of 2 things: poor information provision and mistaken social behaviour.

The poor information provision leads people to think that incinerators are a solution at the forefront of technology, that they are necessary and that in any case they represent the lesser evil.
The incinerators are not an innovative solution. The opposite is true. The first ones were constructed 40 years ago and those countries that used them initially no longer build them and use them less and less. Furthermore it has been demonstrated that the ash produced becomes toxic waste.

The mistaken social behaviour comes about at the level of the producer and the consumer. Waste products are often created at the beginning by useless packaging: boxes, plastic, paper etc. These are just things to get rid of.
Auto-regulation of the producing companies, “helped” by taxes on production of parts that are superfluous to the product, like, for example the box for a tube of toothpaste. This would greatly reduce the phenomenon.
An incentive to reuse the containers with a price reduction for consumers is a measure that could further limit the production of rubbish. For example glass bottles could be reused.
The differentiated collection of waste should be in operation in the whole country. At the moment it isn’t. This makes it possible to recycle most of the waste and it is a great opportunity both for the environment and for industry.

This is why Italia dei Valori will oppose the construction of any new incinerators. It is also asking for the abolition of their financing as of today. It is proposing legislation that will favour a reduction of waste at the origin and the support of companies working in the waste re-cycling sector.

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April 25, 2006

Lega that fights and Lega that governs

From the time it was created, the Lega has always considered the Christian Democrats to be their adversaries. Andreotti has definitely been their main opponent. The people of the Lega in part were in favour of Mani Pulite (the “Clean Hands” initiative) and were openly supporting me, as they did in the public interrogation of Forlani. I don’t think that they will appreciate the nomination of a Christian Democrat who is “prescribed” as President of the Senate. Just as I don’t appreciate it.

It is surprising that a movement that was born to change Italy finds itself supporting the heirs of Bettino Craxi and his interests and after that Giulio Andreotti.
Any member of the Lega who has held on to old copies of La Padania (newspaper of the Lega) can have another look at the articles about Andreotti and Berlusconi. In particular, they can read the questions put by Max Parisi about the source of the financing of Berlusconi’s companies. These questions were not answered.
By rereading these articles they will get a surprise and a moment of up-side-down-ness. The ones that they were fighting against are today their allies.
Political tactics cannot justify this attitude.
The leaders of the Lega cannot fail to know this. They will pay the consequences after the failure of the forthcoming referendum about devolution.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 24, 2006

Andreotti, no thanks!

The CDL has decided to put forward 87 year old Giulio Andreotti, as President of the Upper House (Senato).
This is the second highest institutional position after the President of the Republic.

I am completely opposed to this idea because Life Senator Andreotti, as can be seen in the documentation of the Palermo Appeal Court dated 2 May 2003, has been found guilty of associating with Cosa Nostra for the purposes of committing crime.
This judgement was confirmed by the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) with a judgement  dated  28 December 2004.
The only reason that Andreotti was not sentenced was because the crime that he committed took place before the spring of 1980 and therefore was “Prescritto” as there was too long a gap between the time when the crime was committed and the time when the judgement was delivered.

The judgement explained that Andreotti encountered the top level mafia personnel who were involved in the murder of Piersanti Mattarella, who was Presidente of the Region of Sicily. He met them before and after the murder.
What better candidate for a coalition of “prescritti”, of those currently under investigation and of those who have been convicted?

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 23, 2006

Double Standard

The Centre Right wants a verification of the blank ballot papers as well as those that were spoiled. I’ve got nothing against that idea and I’ve said as much in a couple of discussions on TV. There must be no shadow of doubt about the victory of the Unione.

Two arguments used by the Centre Right in relation to the verification are however totally unacceptable.

The first are the insinuations about the improper behaviour of the presidents of the polling stations and of the election officials. These insinuations are based on nothing and yet they criminalize citizens who have done their duty.

The second is the presumption of an a priori victory after the recount, once more based on nothing. No one can reasonably state that rereading the ballot papers will change the current result.

Furthermore, although these requests for transparency and the rule of law are in themselves, legitimate and of course I congratulate anyone looking for transparency and the rule of law. But they should be accompanied with responsible behaviour from the leader of the Centre Right which still represents AN, UDC and Lega and yet yesterday he made the following statement: “We are the moral and political winners of the elections in which clamorous irregularities have come to light.” Which? Committed by whom? The Ministry of the Interior? The Constitutional Court? Who?

Here it is the institutions that are being criminalized.

A coalition that allows its spokesperson to make such statements is not credible when it then asks for the respect of the rule of law. It needs to be aware of this.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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April 22, 2006

The Cencelli Manual

The Cencelli manual was used during the first Republic and even during the second, to allocate government posts according to the proportions of the various political parties in the governing coalition. Using the accurate scales of a pharmacist, the positions of ministers and undersecretaries were assigned almost always according to party balance rather than according to competence or the political choice of the President of the Council. The Cencelli manual, connected to contracting that was almost commercial, should now remain in the past.
For Italia dei Valori, the head of the coalition, chosen openly by the electorate, must be free to make the nominations he chooses.
It must be Romano Prodi who chooses the Presidents of the Lower and Upper House. This must not be a question to be negotiated and discussed in the streets.
The Italians have chosen a coalition. It is more than just the sum of its parts. All the parties in it have made an equal contribution to the final result. Thus the leader of the Centre Left Coalition acts legitimately and has the right to make choices about nominations to positions in the institutions and in the government.
I believe that in this way he can show respect to the citizens who voted for us.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 21, 2006

Lying to Italian Citizens

In the TV broadcasts that I’ve been invited to participate in I’ve always noted one great absence: objectivity. An evaluation of the facts based on numbers and solid analysis. These were once the objectives at the basis of journalism. Now they seem to have disappeared.
Many politicians and many journalists are interested in clever responses and gossip. And an aspect that is of maximum importance, they lie knowing that they are lying. They don’t have to justify their lying words.
I believe that a politician, a representative of the citizens, or even better an employee of the citizens, cannot be allowed to lie in public without paying the consequences. And in the same way, I believe that a journalist, unless he or she is totally unprepared, must immediately rebut a lie. They shouldn’t be content with a tiny half smile and the attitude of an altar server who is “super partes”. In the other countries of the West, lying politicians are not tolerated but are shamed and eliminated from public life. That’s what should happen in Italy. Lying is not a virtue it’s despicable behaviour.

The first emergency of this Government (together with the conflict of interests) is the economy. The previous government has got Italy into debt. Does someone from the Centre Right want to lie and state the contrary?
Today’s economic forecasts for 2006 from the World Economic Outlook:
- GDP: Euro area 2.0 - Italy 1.2
- Inflation: Euro area 2.1 - Italy 2.5
- Deficit/GDP: Euro area 2.3 - Italy 4.0

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April 20, 2006

The Supreme court confirms the victory of the Unione

The Cassazione (Supreme Court) has confirmed the victory of the Unione and the most responsible people of the CDL have accepted the result.
But the former Minister of the Economy hasn't accepted it.
From this afternoon's Repubblica on line:
”Such a “tiny “ difference in the number of votes between the 2 coalitions “necessitates a supplementary check””. This is the opinion of the Vice President of the Council Giulio Tremonti about the election results after the declaration of the Supreme Court confirming the victory of the Unione.
Even L’Avvenire wrote: “We’ve had enough of searching for expedients… it is an attitude that is even painful.” This obstinacy and lack of respect in relation to the institutional authorities who are responsible for the confirmation of the election creates a doubt in my mind.
 This is a doubt about the inherited State accounts that Tremonti leaves Italian citizens. Is this inheritance even more serious, by a large margin, than what the CDL has declared.

Definitely in the relation to the State accounts, we need “a supplementary check” that should be carried out by the Unione.

I would like to work on a reply given by Follini yesterday evening on “Porta a Porta”. He was asking for a grand coalition in order to return the economy back to health. “But dear Marco Follini, the previous Government of which you yourself formed a part, has nearly destroyed the Italian economy. That government showed itself to be not up to the task. The Unione will do its best. The one thing it cannot do is to give legitimacy to those who are incapable.”

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April 18, 2006

State Information

In recent days I believe that everyone has noticed the dangerous situation for Italian democracy due to the TV channels being controlled by the CDL.
If we had a proper environment for deciding on news coverage then statements by Calderoli would have been ignored. He is even proud of being the one behind the “porcata” law (recent electoral law described by him in a vulgar way). Nobody notices that the party of the former President of the Council got 5.7% less than it did in the last national elections, this is almost 2 million votes less.

Declarations like that of the “bad loser”, the former President of the Council: “The election result “must” change….” Are worthy of someone executing a “coup d’état”. Unless journalists were serving him, they would have simply written words totally condemning that statement. And yet that hasn’t happened and some of the TV news and other media (for instance that controlled by the Mondadori Group) is in fact a propaganda tool of one political movement. Unfortunately, many believe them.

It will be impossible to do anything in this new legislature unless the citizens can exercise their right to having balanced news coverage. Without a law on the conflict of interests and a re-examination of the way TV and radio frequencies are allocated, the next government will be a hostage to news that is slanted to one side.
This issue must take priority and must be tackled straight away and with utter determination.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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April 16, 2006

Italy must forge ahead

I won’t get tired of repeating this: The Italians have given their decision for the Centre Left and now the Centre Left must govern.
The Italians who have voted for us do not now want silly behaviour nor dialectical confrontations with the opposition about this topic or any other before the new Government has taken up its position. The electors of the Centre Left want the Unione to put into operation the manifesto for which they have voted into office. The parties making up the Unione are represented by the Party Secretaries and these can refer to Romano Prodi who will give his opinion about the merits of the election of the President of the Republic. The Unione has both the right and the duty to propose their candidate.
Or are we saying that we want to elect the candidate called Letta who was proposed by the former President of the Council? And if that is the case, why don’t we consider Previti or Dell’Utri?
The front pages of the newspapers are always giving information about the words of one who has been defeated, rather than about what the Unione is about to do. The programme of the Unione, whether or not the former President of the Council likes it, is what we are going to put into action.

The voters of the Centre Left, and me personally, we don’t mind whether or not a defeated man recognises our victory. If he doesn’t accept it, that’s his business and it’s the business of those newspapers that want to please him.
Italy must forge ahead. It must make progress now.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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April 15, 2006

A new energy policy

Our country depends on energy imports. If the price of oil, gas, or electricity goes up, we feel that immediately.
The cost of oil is more than 70 dollars a barrel according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “an increase of a further 10% can determine the fall in the growth rate by up to 1.5% at a global level.”
The nations like Italy that import energy and that have a low rate of growth of the Gross Domestic product (GDP) will be in serious difficulty. Italy had zero growth in 2005, just another thing inherited from the previous government.
It is urgent to establish a national energy plan to put policies into action within the first 100 days of the new government.

Italia dei Valori is backing the development of renewable sources. It’s particularly keen to promote “new renewables” like photovoltaics, solar thermodynamics, wind power, biomass, small scale hydro-electricity, and is still interested in the “old renewables” like “big hydro-electricity” and geothermal power (which is particularly well developed in Italy)
Renewable resources are both a great economic resource as well as being a great environmental resource.
Italia dei Valori will promote investments in the use of cogeneration of electricity and heat, of electricity generating stations using methane gas and photovoltaics so that great tax advantages can be offered to those citizens who adopt these technologies.
Support to renewable resources must also be accompanied by an energy saving policy.

Sooner or later, oil reserves will dry up. Oil prices are sure to rise. Italy must establish its own long-term energy policy based on alternatives to non-renewable sources.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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April 14, 2006

There’s no time to lose

There’s no point in having politics separate from the problems of the country. That’s sterile politics. As I’ve often stated, parliamentarians are at the service of the citizens, all of them, not just the ones who voted for them.
The true emergency in Italy is the economy. It’s an emergency that doesn’t follow institutional time frames. It’s not got time for useless counts of votes, for infinite discussions about nothing or about one’s own power position.

I don’t think that Italy can accept to wait two months before installing the new Prodi government.
The umpteenth alarm relating to the Italian economy came with the February figures showing that the overseas Balance of Trade deficit for the first two months of the year had reached 2,962,000,000 Euro. This is more than twice as much as it was for the first two months of 2005 (1,355,000,000 Euro).
If this trend is not stopped, this could lead to a loss of about 18,000,000,000 Euro in 2006 (36,000,000,000,000 Lire) the value of a Finance Law. A few years ago the overseas balance of Trade was positive and was at 35,000,000,000 Euro.

Then creative financing arrived.

When the numbers are so big, people tend to ignore them. But it’s important that the Italian people understand that this is a situation of pre-bankruptcy of the State. And everyone, including the information professionals need to understand that due weight should be given to informing citizens about these matters.

There’s no time for chattering now, nor for Byzantine Rites. The country needs a guide immediately. We need urgent measures. This is why I’m going to do all that’s in my power to accelerate the time frame to have Romano Prodi established as the President of the Council.

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April 13, 2006

Let the winner govern!

photo from Repubblica.it

In spite of the victory of the Unione in the Upper House (Senato) and the Lower House (Camera), the news programmes are still buzzing with dialectical inventions about defeats or really about the defeat.
If I am permitted, I would like to invite the newspapers and the TV channels to have a greater sense of reality. Let it be clear that I am not referring to those of the former President of the Council that are simply propaganda channels and not true information channels.
Let the journalists now discuss the real problems of the country. The previous legislature has left us with so many problems that we have too many to choose from.
Last night I watched the programme Ballarò. I heard arguments put forward asking “out of a sense of responsibility” for a coalition of the representatives of those who have torn to shreds the Constitution and the laws of Parliament.
By the one who called the centre left voters “coglioni”.
It gave me an allergic reaction.

Here is a very modest piece of advice to my colleagues in the Unione: If you are invited to take part in a programme to talk about the null proposition of the current opposition, don’t accept.
When you do appear on TV talk about data, numbers, statistics related to what the Unione will do for Italian citizens.
In answer to the umpteenth provocation about the “grand coalition”, my opinion is that the bipolar system obliges the winning coalition to govern to give the country the alternative determined by voting.
In other words, let the winner govern.

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April 11, 2006

Thank you!

Thanks to you all, Italia dei Valori has gained an extraordinary result and we are proud of our achievement.

From today, the fight to enforce the rule of law becomes a true political and parliamentary duty. The Italian people have demonstrated that they feel this is a priority. They have done this by voting for Italia dei Valori and by giving victory to the Centre Left.

Italia dei Valori is very aware of the responsibility awarded to it by this vote and wants to demonstrate that it merits the trust of the citizens.

With 20 members of the Lower House and 5 members of the Upper House we have the parliamentary strength to do great things. We can be a positive force with great proposals. Today we change from being a movement to being a Party in Parliament: the Party of the Rule of Law.

A big “thank you” to all those who have given their last drop of energy to achieve this result! And thank you to all the voters! That’s a “thank you” from the heart!

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Red Help

In the last few weeks we have seen an abundance of goodies and of “useful idiots” following Lenin’s famous definition. They have reassured Berlusconi that “his” TV channels will not be disturbed.

I would like to remind him that “his” TV channels are there because they use “our” (State) public frequencies. “His” TV channels for years have been channels of blatant public dis-information. They have journalists who are paid to attack the donkey in accordance with the wishes of their “padrone”.

“His” TV channels exist because in the previous legislature there was a shameful form of politics practised by an apparent opposition

“His” TV channels exist because of a quasi monopoly on TV advertising operated by Publitalia. This is publicity that we all pay for when we buy the products promoted.


This situation, described in a recent article in The Economist as a danger for democracy, is due to the politics of “silliness” on the part of the Left. Not wanting to name anyone, I’d say the DS is particularly prone to this.

Those in the committee of both Houses of Parliament who spoke of “Mediaset as a resource of the whole country” also spoke of the lack of political will to do anything about the laws on the conflict of interest.

Leo Longanesi said that Italians always run to help the winner. Well it seems that the Left have extended the concept so that they always run to help Berlusconi whether or not he’s winning.

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April 10, 2006

Marco Travaglio’s declaration on his voting intentions

Recently I have received many declarations of intentions to vote for Italia dei Valori.
Here below is Marco Travaglio’s declaration.

“Bellachioma continues to talk about electoral fraud by the left wing. When he attributes something to others according to the typical psychiatric mechanism of projection, it is because that is what he himself is doing.
Electronic voting in 4 key regions, the new system by which the Government chooses the vote-counters, the crumbliness of the vote in the sections for Italians abroad supply the right wing the excuse to contest the election, vote by vote and polling station by polling station.

He knows he’ll loose and he’s not content. He will denounce inexistent red frauds to get continual recounts and he’ll try to remain barricaded in Palazzo Chigi for as long as possible so that Ciampi’s term of office will end and he’ll then manage the change over of the position of President of the Republic. In brief: he’ll smash up everything. You just have to look at his face to understand that he’s capable of anything. The only antidote against this “coup d’état” that has been announced is for everyone to rush out and vote against him and against his allies. There’s not a vote to be lost.

Because the only antidote to the organised destruction is that the Centre Left gets many more votes than the berluscones will try to contest. The opposition parties are numerous. You can vote for any one of them. In Primavera di MicroMega I’ve written what I’m going to do (like all the others who write for the magazine) and since many of my friends have asked me I’m writing it here below.
For the Senate, for the first time ever, I will vote without screwing up my nose. Italia dei Valori has given me a present in the shape of a person whom I hold in high esteem and who honours me with her friendship: Franca Rame. For the Lower House, I would have voted for a candidate of the Prodi “movementists” List unconnected to any Party. But Prodi has not had the courage to do this. So I’m stuck with having to go by elimination.
I’m excluding those lists that include people who are under investigation, are “prescribed” or convicted and the only ones left are Italia dei Valori, Verdi {Green party} and Comunisti Italiani {Italian Communists} But Diliberto wants Andreotti to be minister of Foreign Affairs. The name of the top man of the Verdi is Boato. That just leaves Italia dei Valori. Di Pietro has made many errors like moving away from Veltri, Chiesa, Occhetto and others.
But the idea that he goes to Parliament with Leoluca Orlando (thrown out of the Margherita for supporting Rita Borsellino) and a troop of troublemakers is not unpleasant. In an assembly of yesmen, I would like to have at least someone who talks about the rule of law and who watches out for obscure power sharing.”

Marco Travaglio.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 08, 2006

Justice at the Top

Berlusconi feels threatened by the judges. He’s always felt like this and this is the main reason why he went into politics. Without “ad personam” laws his journey with the judicial system would have been a lot more difficult. Without the umbrella of politics to protect him, his career as an entrepreneur would have ended a long time ago.

His words pronounced as President of the Council, in an Institutional setting like that of the press room of palazzo Chigi {official residence of the President of the Council} have been an aberration, quite unpronounceable by anyone with a sense of the State: “The infamy of the prosecutors, who conspire with the Centre Left” in relation to the Mills case in which he is accused of corrupting witnesses.
The first hearing is scheduled in Milan on 5 June. On that occasion, the defendant Berlusconi can explain his reasons like every other Italian citizen.
He shouldn’t be abusing his position by attacking the body of magistrates, who like everyone else can of course make mistakes, but who should be protected and strengthened so that they can guarantee justice in our country.
This is the contrary of what this government has actually done.

I’m referring to the whole Government starting from the solidarity of Casini, President of the Lower House, in relation to Dell’Utri after he was convicted for first-degree association with the mafia. It is not possible to distinguish the darnel from the wheat in this Government collection of companions, who when limiting the power of the magistrates, showed themselves to be a compact group.
On the Internet, it is possible to see the last interview conducted by two French journalists with an Italian hero a few days before his death. He is Paolo Borsellino. It lasts ten minutes. I invite you to listen to it.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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No to Electronic Voting!

Last Sunday I wrote a letter to the Minister of the Interior, Pisanu. I put precise questions about the possibility of fraud in relation to the introduction of electronic voting. I did this by buying a whole page in la Repubblica.
It has had no response. (But then what did you expect?)

But the Thursday 6 April edition of la Repubblica has raised new doubts with an article entitled: “Gaping holes in the Electronic Voting System”. In the article it says: “According to a report of recent days to the Ministry of the Interior, the system – contracted out by the Viminale (the building housing the Ministry of the Interior) to three private companies – is exposed to attacks, raids and blocks. As well as that, the report indicates the identification within the Ministry of the Interior of positions that can enter the system with no apparent reason.”
”Last Monday a meeting of the people responsible for the operation, decided nonetheless that the faults in the system do not prevent the operation from going ahead..”

Even the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday 5 April, dealt with the possible consequences of adopting the electronic voting system in a long article. Some passages from this article are given below.

“The decree outlining the new method of recording votes, approved by the Berlusconi government in January, says that if the data collected electronically is contested it will no longer be valid and a manual count of the printed ballots will take precedence.

But the critics said such a development could lead to a crisis of the type that shut down Florida after the U.S. presidential election in 2000.

Critics also pointed out that the son of a cabinet minister is a partner in a company that was hired as a consultant by the firm running the electronic procedure. {Accenture}.
…
The main contract was awarded without a public tender to Telecom Italia …
Telecom Italia declined to comment on how Accenture was picked….”

I doubt that Pisanu will reply to my questions of last Sunday or to the doubts raised by la Repubblica and the International Herald Tribune.
But if something were to happen he will have to give a response to the Italian people straight after the elections.

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April 06, 2006

The Untrue History of Italy

These elections have been the election of lies. Lies that are planned, scientific and together damaging the economic situation of the country.
I don’t want to deceive anyone: it will take years of sacrifices to reconstruct a country in pieces. Election promises? I’ll leave them to the disinformation professionals of the CDL.
They are the ones who have shamelessly sent through the post a communication to all Italians, considering them all to be without the capacity to understand and to decide. This appears to be a magazine and is entitled: “The True History of Italy”. It is shameful publicity that should more aptly be called “The Untrue History of Italy”.

Numbers, statistics, percentages and facts are misrepresented to such an extent that it would be hilarious if we weren’t so close to the economic drama.
Among the many examples is one on page 154 where the increase in the average income of Italians in these 5 years is magnified as follows:
“27,119 dollars is today’s average income of Italians (in 2001 it was 24,670 dollars)”
Dollars, not Euro! A communication about our average income is given in dollars? This is a strategy worthy of Tremonti at his best.
This makes it appear that the average Italian has increased their buying power in 5 years by 2,449 dollars.
But Italians are paid in Euro. The conversion rate euro/dollar has gone from 1.16 euro per dollar in May 2001 to 0.81 euro per dollar today.
What’s happened in these five years is that the Euro has got much stronger with respect to the dollar.
The Dollar/Euro exchange rate confirms that the value of the Euro has protected our savings.
However our incomes have gone down. They have dropped by a massive amount as all Italian families know (apart from those who live in the United States and are paid in Euro)

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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April 05, 2006

The Last Chance Saloon: Insults and Tele-sales

There are two sound bites spoken by Berlusconi in last night’s discussion with Prodi that give Italians cause to reflect.

The first: “After the debate, if you have the time, I will explain that to you.” This was in response to Prodi’s question about where he proposed to find the 35,000,000,000 Euro needed for his fiscal policy. His disregard for the Italians listening at home was evident from this reply. Where does this man expect to find the 35,000,000,000 Euro? This is our money. He needs to tell us, the voters. This relates to us. It’s not just his business.

The second phrase was in reference to our country: “ …it’s a company …”. This explains how he and his group of lawyers and chums have administered Italy in these five years: just like a company. A company from which without doubt he has extracted benefits in terms of tax, money and judicial decisions. Berlusconi has prepared his own budget every year for 5 years at the expense of the company of Italy.

Berlusconi does not like confrontation. He showed this with his quip about the elimination of the ICI tax on housing. It was tossed off only at the close of the programme so that Prodi had no possibility to come back on it. He tried to use a method of tele-sales without covering the costs.

And the declaration published today in audio and video from la Repubblica is illuminating in showing Berlusconi’s genuine anti-democratic vocation.

In these last 5 years, Italy has got poorer in every way.
Today we have the umpteenth proof of a situation that is getting ever more serious: according to the Eurispes report, Italian families in the last five years have seen their savings going down from 106,000,000,000 Euro to 64,000,000,000 Euro, a reduction of 40%.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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April 04, 2006

Election Jobs

The outgoing Government is the Government of waste and of Great Useless Engineering Works, and of dilapidated transport systems. It’s a Government that has produced such disasters, because of its amateurish approach to management of the State and to clientelism surrounding the elections, that it will explode the public accounts and get the country into frightening debts.

Examples are everywhere to be found. The cost of the useless Bridge over the Straits of Messina is 3,880,000,000 Euro. This is an enormous sum. It’s incomprehensible to the regular commuters who are used to chronic delays and to coping with a service more appropriate for a third world country. It’s incomprehensible to Sicilians who would prefer to have an adequate transport system in their region.
The idea of federalism that is in the mouths of CDL politicians is in reality a new Cassa del Mezzogiorno (a Public Body 1950-1984 designed to finance the industrial development of the South of Italy) using the resources of the country for unproductive activities without a future.
Instead of investments in the South what has been created is assisted employment.
More than 60,000 “precarious” people are working for the public administration in Sicily. Of these a good 24,000 who are working for the forestry organisation, and for socially useful organisations have seen the level of activity increased by the Region of Sicily with a related cost of 75,000,000 Euro.

It’s right that we should pay taxes, but then we should also ask how the money is used. Does the money go to pay for infrastructure, for schools, for research that guarantees a future to our children? Or does it go to pay for election donations, waste, and socially useless bureaucracy?
Paying taxes is a social duty. So is using them correctly. We won’t reduce our country’s national debt by putting a limit on public expenditure. We can do it by making radical cuts to useless superstructures and to "client groups" of paid political promoters that serve only for the survival of politics professionals.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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April 03, 2006

The pseudo-guaranteeists and the conflict of interests

I would like to make one thing clear to all the beautiful minds of the Centre Left. I will start fighting from the day after the elections, from 11 April, so that we get a law against the conflict of interests.

In particular I’m telling Franco Debenedetti, Massimo D’Alema and Luciano Violante.

There’s no democracy in the world that allows those with effective control of the media to be in politics. At the last elections it was Italy that lost. It was the democratic system that lost. The system that should be based on equal access to the media by all parties.

In 2001 it wasn’t Berlusconi that won. It was the timidity and the silence of the Centre Left that lost and it was all Italian people who lost.

Any door-to-door salesperson controlling three TV channels and an unending number of newspapers can put themselves up for election with a good possibility of victory.

But the truth of this statement is so obvious and clear that it must also be clear to the DS. What then are the motives that in the past have driven them to protect Berlusconi’s media empire and that today produce demure declarations worthy of dainty virgins like those delivered by Franco Debenedetti to il Corriere della Sera? Masochism? pseudo-guaranteeism? Economic proximities?

Italy’s economic situation is very seriously bad. To know that we only have to read The Guardian, Le Monde, Newsweek, or The Wall Street Journal. Without his newspapers and TV channels, Berlusconi would have been sent packing years ago. His media channels are a democratic emergency. That has to be confronted decisively and immediately for the good of our country.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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April 02, 2006

ENI’s Board of Directors

ENI is one of the largest companies in the country. It is essential for its energy policy and it is crucial for the development of industry in Italy. Last year it achieved immense profits which were described in evocative language on its website www.eni.it:
“The best results ever: the consolidated accounts were approved with net profits of 8,800,000,000 Euro, that is an increase of 1,700,000,000 with respect to the previous year (+24.5%)” and :
”A still bigger dividend. It is proposed to distribute 1.10 Euro per share. Of this 0.45 was distributed last October.”

This result is at the expense of every Italian citizen who buys energy from ENI, isn’t it?
And if they’ve got such great results why don’t they lower the energy prices?
The reference shareholder is still the Italian State!
But perhaps they want to give priority to distributing the profits to the most important shareholders.

Who decides ENI policies?
Mondadori, the company of the family of the President of the Council. Two of their Board Members are also on ENI’s Board that only has a total of 9 members. They are: Roberto Poli e Mario Resca. They are listed on Mondadori’s website as follows:
“The following is a list of other responsibilities at the level of Board Member or auditor of other companies quoted on the Stock Exchange or in finance or insurance companies, or Banks of relevant size, held by members of the Board of Directors of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A
...
Roberto Poli, President of ENI S.p.A.
Mario Resca, Director of ENI S.p.A.”

What do we want to call this if it isn’t a conflict of interests? In particular I’m asking the pseudo-guarantee people of the Centre-Left who are perhaps now publishing their memoirs with Mondadori

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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April 01, 2006

Federica Rossi Gasparrini: a candidate with Italia dei Valori

I’m publishing this letter from Federica Rossi Gasparrini, National President of Donne Europee Federcasalinghe, (European Housewives) and a candidate with Italia dei Valori.

“After more than 20 years of dedication to the protection of the rights of families and of women, I have accepted, together with 19 other representatives of our Association, to take up the challenge of Antonio Di Pietro and Italia dei Valori to stand with them directly in this election campaign.

Italia dei Valori because, when compared to others, it has an inspiration that is nearest to the idea of a party for citizens and it has chosen to form alliances with those small and large associations that are based on “the rule of law, justice and the protection of the family”.
Without a doubt we have found this to be the one that most closely matches our values. As well as this we have travelled a long journey with Antonio Di Pietro and we have respect for each other. We recognise in Antonio Di Pietro, the man who knew how to break the maleficent crust of kick-backs and malpractice that was oppressing the country. We were with him at San Sepolcro, when Italia dei Valori came into being. We are with him in these national elections on 9-10 April because:

- we trust him
- Antonio Di Pietro trusts us
- he has accepted our programme and it has specific and clear elements
- he has accepted 19 of our representatives as candidates in different Italian regions from Friuli Venezia Giulia to Sicily.

I would like to remind readers that Federcasalinghe (the Housewives Association) is an Association that is truly free and autonomous in its choices.
Behind each choice there is only the wish of the members.
Before this, during the referendum campaign in the 1990’s we came out in strength to support the action of Mario Segni. Following that, Federcasalinghe has formed political alliances for the only purpose of getting laws for women and families. The alliance with the Centre-left for the elections in 1996 and with D’Alema in particular, allowed us to get 12 legal provisions. Among these were:
- Maternity cheques for new mothers who are housewives and unemployed (about a million of these have been distributed)
- cheques for the families in a weak economic situation, with 3 young children (about 2 million of these have been distributed)
- free text books for all children while in obligatory schooling.

One of the fundamental objectives that I have always kept in mind during these years is to get regulations approved that will balance the need of women to have their families and also to be able to work outside the home. As a young mother, with a demanding job in a school, I have experienced in myself the constant conflict between worrying about not being a good mother and worrying about not being a good teacher.

While feminism and the general culture told women “all get out of the house”, I had a broken heart when the children cried because I had to go out and work.
That time of my life that should have been wonderful, turned out instead to have been a very painful time.
My female colleagues had similarly difficult experiences. When I talk to women in all sectors, in industry and in commerce we’ve noticed that all of us, particularly in the early years of motherhood would have preferred to have had a different experience, more like that of a “housewife”. In Bergamo, a cultural group “freedom of choice” was set up. Then it transferred to Rome. It was the mothers of the children at school who encouraged me to set up an Association.

That’s how Federcasalinghe came into existence. It’s great to think that the founding members are still part of the Association’s National Executive Committee. This is an experience that is within me and it has true value and strives for the protection of all women.
Now it’s over to you. I’m completely with you all in these elections that may see me gaining a seat in Parliament. And as well as myself, the other housewives, women and families will gain seats in Parliament.
Together with Di Pietro, we will know how to fight for new laws that are just and modern.”

Federica Rossi Gasparrini.
National President of Donne Europee Federcasalinghe, (European Housewives), Presidente of Molise Sviluppo Spa and Undersecretary of Work during the Prodi Government.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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