April 28, 2007

Council of Ministers. Drought alarm?

Text:

"Since there were the party conferences of the DS and Margherita last week, the Council of Ministers met on Tuesday. Thus last Friday there was a lot of talk and the day before yesterday we did something concrete and I would say, better.
We made decisions relating to 3 important topics: the environment, water in relation to the problem of drought, and immigration.
The measure taken on immigration is very delicate. It’s not perfect but it is the framework of the revision of the Bossi-Fini law and sets out a system with many barriers and filters.
Let’s say straight away that we have not opened the doors to anybody. We too want to avoid indiscriminate immigration and we want to know who is living on our territory and what they are doing.
The main new factor: The CPTs, places of detention also offering assistance, have been eliminated; the role of tutor has been created. Someone who calls an immigrant into the country and takes on responsibility for them.
Think of the domestic workers in families, of those who help older people. Immigration is not just about criminality, though that exists and must be tackled as must the phenomenon of clandestines. Immigration is also functional to the life of our country and our families
We have also set out the right to become a citizen. On this point, we of Italia dei Valori hope that Parliament will focus its attention. Currently the regulation states “if you know Italian culture, after a certain period you can gain citizenship”. I feel that it should say something like: “if you recognise yourself in Italian culture, after a certain period, if you are paying taxes and you have work, you can call yourself an Italian citizen”.
The Council of Ministers then tackled the topic of the environment, or rather, the so-called environmental crimes, about which there was a legislative gap. Everyone says that we should respect the environment, and we mustn’t pollute and ruin the health of the citizens, but penalties were absent.
We have laid out a series of sanctions and crimes, including associating to commit a crime aimed at destroying the environment. We have to understand that whoever has to get rid of toxic substances cannot casually use common spaces.
There are actually criminal organisations that operate on behalf of third parties to sort out toxic substances, and at times damaging the aquifers in such a way that polluted water is taken to the homes of citizens. We want these people to be sent to prison.
Finally we discussed the topic of drought, without right now taking any precise actions. But we did gather in reports from the Ministries and the relevant bodies, and first from the person responsible for Civil Protection, Bertolaso.
In recent days, all the media have been raising the alarm about drought. We need to be careful: sometimes an alarm can cause more damage than the actual danger.
We have understood that in fact we don’t risk “dying of thirst”.
It’s true that the level of water in the dams is lower than the planned level and it’s true that there is a problem of leaks of water in the country. 30% of the water leaks away from the distribution system before it arrives at our homes.
Let it be clear however, that we are not at risk of being without drinking water. The problem is a matter of rational use of water resources for the agricultural sector, and thus in paying attention to the fair distribution of water.
I’m saying this because, even in important newspapers, it has been said that we should not get washed in the morning and we should not change so as to save water.
Let’s not exaggerate. In Italy we will not die of thirst. There are other much more serous causes, like road traffic accidents, for causing deaths in Italy.
For water resources, we have prepared a plan of action for the rational use of the lakes as long as they are above the safe level. Thus we want to send out a message of calm on this topic.
As you can see, we have talked about concrete things. This week there has been a lot of discussion about chattering politics. There’s been an overdose of information. And I think that that gives you citizens one impression: that everything is discussed except the content.
Democratic Party? The problem is the person leading it. I believe that what is needed is a generational change put into action by the citizens and not by the Party Conferences."

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 25, 2007

Mario Monti responds

In il Corriere della Sera, Mario Monti has responded to my comment on the article “Structural Counter-reform”:

“To a great extent I agree with what Minister Di Pietro said: the pressing need for reform aimed at “putting the economy at the service of the citizens”, the statement that “Italy needs economic reforms, new rules to protect small scale shareholders, those who save as well as consumers, so that it can become part of true capitalism”, and the list of topics to be tackled.
The Minister knows how to combine vehemence and efficacy and I am confident that he will succeed in getting this line adopted by the government and in the majority.
Readers will remember that this is an approach that I have been calling for for some time: a bipartisan agreement. And it is an approach to which I have tried to contribute on a European level.
There are however two points that I don’t agree with.
First, that there has been no reform in Italy up until now, seems to me an “ungenerous” (as the politicians would say) proposition, especially when considering the current government and the previous ones of which Antonio Di Pietro has been a part. Certainly a decisive acceleration is needed.
Secondly, I believe that it is legitimate to call for reforms for a more rigorous market economy and at the same time to express perplexity about the change of rules while the work is going on.
Finally I hope that the government, while avoiding bringing in these changes (golden shakes), brings in other initiatives as suggested by Di Pietro, against the golden hand-shakes.”
Mario Monti

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 24, 2007

Italia dei Valori’s National Planning Meeting

On Saturday 5 May 2007, Italia dei Valori will gather in Rome at 10:00 am at the Palafiera in via dell’Arcadia n. 40, to start the internal debate on the topics that will be tackled effectively at the Political Assembly in September during the National Gathering.
The principles guiding our programme for the forthcoming parliamentary encounters will be presented. We are asking all our organisation to make a contribution that will be then worked on by the Topics Department and finalized into a brief working document.
Together with myself, there will be other important members of the Government and the parties.
The meeting is open to the public and you are invited to participate to give your contribution.
See you soon.

I’m attaching some information on how to arrive at the Palafiera in Via dell’Arcadia n. 40, in Rome:
Local Public transport
Direct connections with the city centre (bus 714, 30, 716, 160), with FAO (bus 160), with EUR (bus 30, 671, 714, 716). The nearest metro stations are PIRAMIDE (linea B) then get bus 670 or 716 to the Fiera. Or GARBATELLA (linea B) then get bus 670 or 716 to the Fiera.
Rail
From Termini station (bus 714) all the main rail connections with the North and South of Italy.
From Ostiense station (bus 670 e 716) for rail connections with the Genoa, Turin and Ventimiglia
Air
The Fiera is a 20 minute journey from Leonardo da Vinci airport (reachable in train from Termini station and Ostiense station) and is a 30 minute journey from Ciampino airport.
Motorway
It takes less than 10 minutes on the Via Cristoforo Colombo to travel between the Fiera di Roma and the Grande Raccordo Anulare (G.R.A.), the ring road round Rome that connects to the main motorways: A1 for Florence and Naples, A12 for Leonardo da Vinci airport and for Civitavecchia, A24 for L'Aquila and Pescara, Via Pontina for Latina.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 23, 2007

Reform and Counter-reform

Letter sent to il Corriere della Sera:

Dear editor,

I’m sending you my comments on the article “Structural Counter-reform” by Mario Monti published 22 April.
“In Italy in matters of the economy it is the status quo that rules. An immobility guarded assiduously by those who because of their positions or authority should be promoting reforms, laissez-faire capitalism, authentic market regulation, the strengthening of the controlling Authorities.
Instead they create obstacles for me, who wants to place the economy at the service of the citizens and claim that I want to interfere with a so-called ideal world that regulates itself by magic. People are writing about a Structural Counter-reform being put in place by the State, and about a dark danger.
A partisan evaluation is of itself impossible, because before the Counter-reform, there must be the Reform
I return to the sender, terms like “great mental confusion”, “absence of leadership in the government” and “unscrupulous plans”. The examples of Abertis and Telecom are cited as a deliberate attack on the market by the State, on the sacred rules of the economy. But what rules are they talking about?

Perhaps of the Chinese boxes, the stock options, the mega-salaries, the massive golden handshakes, of the blatant conflict of interests with Directors sitting on six or seven Boards of Directors, of the impossibility for small scale shareholders to have representation, of the investments that are not made even though motorway tolls are increased, of the buying of companies made by casting them into debt?
They forget to point out that in the case of Autostrade and Telecom, what is in the balance are two networks that are fundamental for our country: the motorways and the telephone backbone. Should the State not express an opinion? Well what is the State for?
The market that is so frequently talked about is the usual fig leaf of private interests. Autostrade and Telecom are in fact two monopolies, protected sectors for which the State grants concessions, the market is another thing.
Italy needs economic reforms, new rules protecting small scale shareholders and consumers, to enter true capitalism.

That capitalism that rewards risk capital and sends dishonest directors to prison, as has happened in the United States for Enron.
Recently the Financial Times has published a full page article about the chronic lack of foreign investment in Italy explaining that the main reason for this is the lack of firm regulations.
Italy is the country where false accounting is not punished, where administrators convicted of bankruptcy stay in post. This, dear editor, is the true dark danger.”

Antonio Di Pietro

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 21, 2007

Telecom is not for sale

Text:

“Today I am presenting my usual report but not on the Council of Ministers: at the moment there are the party conferences for the DS, Margherita and lots of other political meetings.
It’s a moment for talking politics, so there’s no Council of Ministers. However, there’s still lots happening and lots of decisions to be taken.
Allow me to return to the Telecom affair. For some time I have been saying that the telephone network, the networks for water, for the motorways, for the railways, that is the most important networks for the country cannot be treated like apples and pears.
If a network is in the hands of private enterprise, they manage it according to their own interest, investing only where there’s most gain: if they doesn’t get enough income from the utility bills they don’t take water to a certain village, if they don’t get enough profits, they don’t install broadband and so on.
You see when it’s a matter of services that are used by everyone, the rules of the market, often talked about, are not enough if they don’t guarantee a service to every citizen.
Once we’ve established the principle that Telecom manages a fundamental network, because without the network communications cannot be passed and therefore there would be a lack of democracy, how come there is such a lot of talk about it at the moment?
Because they say that Tronchetti Provera is selling Telecom Italia. It’s not true! It’s not Telecom that’s for sale.
Telecom is a company with 100% of its shares and Tronchetti Provera is selling only the 15% that he controls.
There would be no problem if we had normal laws, but at the moment it is organised so that whoever has got a relative majority of the shares can control the company. Because the majority shareholding is disparate and cannot be present at the shareholders meeting.
Thus in reality, by controlling a tiny percentage, 15%, it’s possible to control 100% and so make decisions about what investments to make, how to distribute the profits, who to elect to the Board of Directors, when and how to sell one’s shares and in this case, where to install broadband and where not.
Have you ever seen a company being controlled by 15%? It happens in Italy. Not for all the companies, however, only for those that manage services for all the citizens.
They say to the citizens ‘buy shares and create a cattle ring, we will manage the money that comes from the utility bills, from the payments made’. As I said, in this case it’s only 15% that is handed over. Where is the clever stuff? Why I am saying that we find ourselves here with another “wide boy game”?
Because Tronchetti Provera sells his 15% to the “strange strange Mexican” at 3 Euro per share, while the market value is 2.2 Euro per share. You’ll be asking ‘how come someone would pay 3 euro for something costing 2.2 euro?’
That’s just because, as I have been saying many times, by selling his shares, Tronchetti allows the buyer to have control of Telecom.
It is true that that means shelling out nearly one euro extra per share, but it’s also true that it’s enough to buy a small percentage of the company to be able to control the whole thing.
If they were to buy it on the market they would have to launch a takeover bid at at least 2.6 to 2.7 euro per share, and for more than 50% of the shares. Imagine how much money they would have to spend. Instead, they pay a bit more per share and they buy just 15% to control the whole company.
Who loses out? Pantalone, that is the Italian citizens. First of all the small scale investors: if they had launched a take over bid for Telecom shares, the shareholders could sell their shares at 2.6 or 2.7 Euro.
Secondly, all users because the network would be put into the hands of those who want to control it only for their own personal interests and it will be developed only where it gives the economic returns.
This is a private matter being carried on with great lack of concern, only for financial rewards, where there is someone selling for their own gain without giving the market the possibility of establishing the just price.
All those who come to tell me that my behaviour, the behaviour of one who only wants to apply the rules, is going against the market while negotiations are going on, are out of order. They are the ones violating the free market.
The market need the shares to fluctuate because of a takeover bid open to all, while this is a happening in the hands of a few.
Those who violate the rules of the market, on a substantial scale even though not on a formal level, are doing this crafty dodge. It’s not myself, as Minister of Infrastructure and the members of Italia dei Valori. We want to defend the rules in the interest of the citizens.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 19, 2007

The lies about foreign investments

Yesterday I took part in the TV programme Ballarò. There was a discussion about Telecom Italia and it was said that the government was responsible for the fact that AT&T is not going to buy it. It was said that Telecom is for sale.
Della Valle maintained that the lack of investments from abroad was due to the government’s interference and wanting to lay down regulations. Anyone at home who was listening, unless they were well informed would have believed everything.
Telecom Italia is not for sale. What is for sale is the 15% share held by Pirelli that Tronchetti wants to sell beyond the market at 3 euros, when the price quoted is 2.3 Euro. If the market exists why doesn’t anyone wanting to buy not make a take over bid offering 2.6 to 2.7 Euro and so give a benefit to the small scale shareholders?
Here they are handing over control of Telecom with only 15%, using private negotiations. Is this the market? The one that leaves you with your mouth open and without giving a voice to the small shareholders?
On the fact that foreigners have not been investing for such a long time now in Italy, I agree with Della Valle.
But this isn’t because of State interventionism nor for an excess of regulations, it happens because the rules are missing: Parmalat, Cirio and Banca Popolare di Lodi show us that.
The introduction of rules that are fair and certain would penalize only the local scoundrels, who have now gone up- market, it would certainly not penalize the small-scale shareholders.
Furthermore I want to repeat the affirmation that the national networks cannot be sold off like any sort of good, as if they were apples or pairs.
The State has the right, but above all the duty to verify the way things are bought, the investments that are planned, the trustworthiness of the buyers.
The road, telephone and energy networks are the basis for the functioning of the Nation, not an instrument to give profit to the few.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 16, 2007

Rozzano-Telecom Italia: a starting point

Tomorrow at Rozzano there’ll be the shareholders meeting for Telecom Italia. Thousands of small shareholders will be there and just for once they will be able to make their voices heard. Hundreds of people will take the floor to speak and it is likely that a single day will not be enough for all the people taking part.
Tomorrow the actions will be a trial against the lack of rules that afflicts Italian capitalism and that is a barrier to investments from families who have already been “burned” by a series of scandals and losses, and from foreigners.
In fact Italy is in the bottom position for investments from abroad. The small amount that comes in is usually looking for an income from the position, small scale stuff.
An economy that in fact only protects the usual ones does not allow Italy to start to develop. In recent years we have missed many trains ranging from food, to ICT, to Chemical industry, to large scale distribution. Now we risk losing even telephony, and connectivity.
The country is always poorer and the once-upon-a-time-capitalists without capital are always richer: it’s a vicious circle that needs breaking.
I can’t officially delegate my vote to Beppe Grillo in the shareholders meeting because of the current Consob rules, but in an Ideal World I can. Go for it Grillo! Go for it as well, all the small shareholders!

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 15, 2007

Council of Ministers. Accidents at Work

Text:

“It has been a dramatic week as regards international politics, for the happenings in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Less dramatic but equally dangerous is the war within the country that is little talked about but that each day causes victims and injured people: I am referring to those injured at work.
Those who go to work in the morning very often don’t know if they will go home in the evening. You can die from terrorism and you can die directly from work.
It’s happening every day with more than a thousand victims a year.
This is a topic that the Government of which I am a part must face up to, is facing up to and will have to face up to in a really determined way.
A strong attack on black market working has been started: from today it’s no longer possible to be formally employed the day after you start work as was allowed before I and Minister Damiano made alterations to this regulation.
In fact, on many occasions the victim happened to get formally employed on the actual day that they got injured. Now that is no longer possible: first you are formally employed and then you start work.
In the finance law there are new resources available so that new Workplace Inspectors can be take on.
There is the will to face up to this problem but I am not yet satisfied. I say that as a Minister and as a citizen.
The battle will have been won when there are no more victims and to achieve this, regulations are not enough. The regulations established also need to be put into practice. For some time now in our country, democracy is understood as anarchy: do everything you can until it gets discovered and if this happens admit the error. Then with an amnesty and an appeal the problem is resolved.
There must be greater possibility for the Workplace Inspectors to apply sanctions starting from striking someone off a professional body and exacting heavy fines.
In Italy recently there has been a lot of attention given to this topic but we still need to do much more: it’s not enough to state a principle, it needs applying.
Yesterday we talked about another important topic: crimes against the environment. There’s the same problem: everyone talks about respecting the environment but no one really respects the laws, because they are convinced they can find an escape clause if they get caught.
At the Council of Ministers we talked about eco-mafias: there are mafia crimes connected to ecology on topics like disposal of rubbish and water pollution. So we have set out a series of new crimes to protect the environment from the so-called environmental criminality.
The regulation states the principle, but the application is up to the Tribunals, to the Inspectors, to the police forces:
when Italia dei Valori insists that the rule of law is a necessary factor for the development of the economy and the democracy, it is stating the need for the State to function in the interests of the citizens.
Thus our commitment is always the same: certainty of law, certainty of punishment. Without this there is no democracy and there is no healthy economy.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 12, 2007

Let's give a Voice to the Small Shareholders

Text:

“Today there’s no Council of Ministers, it’s Wednesday 11 April and this is a meeting with you, because there’s an extraordinary situation being created around certain very delicate problems concerning the credibility of the institutions.
I’m going to talk about one of these in a separate message. That relates to the position taken by the State Advocacy against the Milan Prosecutors concerning the abduction of Abu Omar.
According to the State Advocacy, the fault for what has happened is to be found in the Milan magistrates who are discovering the abductors and not in those who did the abduction who committed the crime. The other very delicate question is the Telecom Italia affair. Today politicians are asking: should we intervene or not? I believe that if there’s not action taken quickly enough, it’ll be too late. But as usual there’s only discussion.
On 16 April, there’ll be the Telecom shareholders meeting. All shareholders should participate. In fact it’s the usual ones who go, the ones with a tiny percentage of shares but who govern the whole company.
On 16 April at 11 am, I’ll be there at Rozzano. There’ll be a decision to sell and to whom. In fact, there’ll be a formal agreement to accept what has already been decided by the usual wide boys of the moment.
I have tried and I am still trying in every way, to intervene to ask for an urgent decree on two fundamental topics:
- first, that the network is broken off from the service company and that it cannot be transferred from one body to another without the relevant ministerial authorization, as has been done for the motorways. It’s possible to do the same for the telephone network.
- second, that action is taken to eliminate the game of Chinese boxes, that allows for a body that holds just 18% of the shares in a company to take any decision about that company.
The Chinese boxes are permitted by law and this makes it even more serious. We need a decree, but I don’t think that the politicians have the strength and the humility to do this and I’m sorry about that.
However, there is something that can be done on 16 April. Beppe Grillo and I in a small way have tried to gather proxy votes to represent a few thousand shareholders in the meeting.
If only we hadn’t even tried.: they have told us of such an exasperating procedure that in substance, those proxy votes cannot be used.
A special law has been passed to prevent the many small shareholders from exercising their power within the company, so as to allow the few to control everything. This is how serious it is.
But, as I said, on 16 April it’s still possible to do something: take a half day holiday, those of you who have even a single Telecom share and have a picnic at Rozzano from 11 am onwards. Before that go to your bank and get them to give you the certificate that allows you to exercise your right to vote.
Come in procession to Rozzano on that day. A few thousand people who are accredited and who ask to speak will make the turn the tables. It would be a political happening in the noble sense of the word, smashing the agreements and leading to a reflection.
On that day, let all those with Telecom shares exercise their rights. Not so much for the value of the share but for the symbolic value of a democratic gesture to make own’s voice heard.
However, remember that you have to go to your bank and get them to give you the document, the certificate that gives you the authorization to participate.
I believe that united we are strong: when faced with the politicians who do not have the courage to react, when faced with the craftiness of the well known wide boys, the democratic strength of the people can still overturn the result.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (1) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 10, 2007

A decree for the small shareholders

I’ve asked Romano Prodi to have a decree to modify the Draghi law and give a voice to the small shareholders. However, Italia dei Valori will present its own draft law.
I am supporting the initiative that Beppe Grillo is promoting on his site, but the number of people supporting this cannot have significance because of a bureaucratic law that we must get changed.
The system must be reformed, in particular the Chinese Boxes, that mechanism of company entwining in a cascade that allows Tronchetti Provera’s Olimpia to control 75% of Telecom Italia’s Board of Directors with 18% of the capital.
The small shareholders should group together. I have started to move in this direction but Consob has sent me a long letter explaining that a complicated and messy procedure is needed.
And thus Grillo, who does not have the specific qualifications required is not able to speak in the name of all at the shareholders’ meeting.
As well as the modification to the Draghi law, I have a second proposal. When it’s a matter of networks that are fundamental for the country, if there’s a sale, that’s possible, but the one that buys must obtain new authorization from the State to use the network.
The State must evaluate whether there are the necessary conditions. Obviously to get to this point it’s necessary to dismember the network and place it in this authorization regime.
All this is needed to avoid things like the use of the network to pocket the dividends rather than to invest to improve the service. I would not want to see Telecom landing up with new “wide boys”, perhaps from a broader neighbourhood. This is why we have to take action before it is too late.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 08, 2007

The new electoral law

Good wishes for a Happy Easter to everyone!
I am publishing an interview I have given to il Corriere della Sera about the electoral law.

CdS: Minister Di Pietro, the debate about the electoral law is getting mad, but you seem to be absent…ADP: When there’s talk of the electoral law I give in. I give in until I see mouths closed and a text. OK I’m grown up and have all the vaccinations and I want to study the documents. Even at the cost of not sleeping the night to see where there is the trick. Because the Italian people have had lots of tricks played on them with the electoral laws. In the 1990s, when it was possible to choose, the majority voting was chosen, but the law was created to safeguard the usual ones.

CdS: Amato is proposing to go back to that law, to the single-winner constituencies.
ADP: I remember that even that law contained a proportional part. Amato is an intelligent and astute person, who is expert in these things, but I want to see the written proposals. Then I will try to make sure that my principles are taken forward.

CdS: So you too have a model to suggest?
ADP: I and Italia dei Valori have convictions and principles that can adapt to different models. For example, we are convinced that the reform cannot be done using a referendum. We won’t support the idea of a referendum in the collection stage nor later.

CdS: But that way you are going against the Di Pietro that collected signatures.
ADP: I believe in the referendum as a tool, but I am convinced that it’s not possible to write the electoral law with a “yes” or a “no”. A majority vote in Parliament is better than a a mad referendum.

CdS: And what will you say when Prodi consults you about the electoral law?ADP: We will say that to entrust to the party secretaries the choice of who is to be elected to Parliament is a terrible thing. It allows many characters in search of an author to become parliamentarians without the backing of the electorate. Thus we propose primaries opened up to all the citizens and if necessary with preference voting.

CdS: Minister, this is not a model.
ADP: I haven’t yet finished. We will tell Prodi that we need a great reduction in the number of parties. Including my own. I’m not going to go back on the need for this. It’s better that a party has a certain proportion of representation, or otherwise that they stay out of things.

CdS: And where would you go? In the democratic party?
ADP: As regards the democratic party I noted when it was starting up, that I was excluded by the Olive Tree because of a veto from the socialists. Now the conferences are starting and there will be the constitution of the PD. I hope in that phase that Italia dei Valori can give its contribution together with many other groupings in society. At the moment I just see a summit of the top brass of the DS and the Margherita.

CdS: Let’s go back to the electoral law.
ADP: Certainly. The other thing that we are thinking is that the citizens must be in a position to know who is the premier candidate, what is the programme and what the coalitions are that they can vote for. Then we propose that convicts cannot be candidates and that there is a limit of two terms of office in the same position. I want to discuss all this.

CdS: Your principles don’t seem so far away from the regional model.
ADP: The principles that I have indicated can be in line with different models. The regional model could mean anything or nothing. It depends on the lower limits, on the lists, on the democratic guarantees, on the choice of candidates. I’m not falling in love with the model, I want to see the text and see whether it embraces the principles that I have just indicated.

CdS: Do you want to bring about constitutional reforms?
ADP: If we start off with doing constitutional reforms before the electoral law we’ll get to three months from the vote for this law. And we’ll be doing a law that will be in the interests of some.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 07, 2007

Council of Ministers. Developing the Railways

Text:

“This week the Council of Ministers was held on Thursday, as tomorrow is Good Friday. Well, every good wish for a peaceful Easter and above all, for a peaceful life.
As regards my Ministry, we talked about investments in railway infrastructure.
Furthermore, we approved the setting up of a new agency for the employment of a few thousand young researchers in universities, with particular attention to the relationship between University and companies, to put a stop to the flight of young talent abroad.
This week there was another important event. We managed to get the 11 signatures needed to present to the Senate a draft of a law that prevents convicts from being candidates.
It is not right that convicts sit in Parliament. Everyone understands this and says so and yet the law to stop this happening hasn’t yet been approved. Today, as Beppe Grillo often repeats, there are more than twenty convicts who are making our laws.
Cesare Previti, in fact, even though he has been declared to be “not a member of Parliament” over a year ago, is still in his place and Parliament hasn’t managed to get together and say “please go away”.
To be able to present this draft law, eleven parliamentarians were needed. In the Senate, there aren’t eleven members of Italia dei Valori and so we had to look for other signatures. In fact without the signatures of at least half those belonging to a particular parliamentary group, it is not even possible to get the discussion of a measure added to the agenda
You’ll say: “Now we’ll get this law, is that so?” We have obliged the Senate at least to discuss it, but they have given me to understand that they are able to make the discussion last a whole term of office. So I need your help: send floods of emails and faxes to the Lower and Upper Houses asking for a discussion of this draft law.
Whether or not it gets approved, at least it’ll get voted on. Now help me to open up the ears of those who are in Parliament.
I have presented a package of measures concerning railway infrastructure to the CIPE, the body that handles the most important State spending.
If it is true, and it is, that there is lots of traffic, lots of smog, and lots of danger for the environment, then we need to take action.
We have set down expenditure for 9,000,000,000 Euro just for the railways, straight away and for the next 4 years.
To be specific, it has been decided that all the activities will go to tender.
For example, there is a stretch of railway from Treviglio to Brescia and already in the 1990s there was an agreement with a private company which made out that it would do the maintenance.
The cost was 2,700,000,000 Euro. Putting it out to tender, it’s possible to get the same work done for 2,000,000,000 Euro. Why should I pay the one that asks me the most?
We have established a series of interventions for more than 2,000,000,000, to modernize all the track.
The reason why there are railway accidents is the lack of safety; in certain sections, there’s still a single track, and it’s possible that there are errors in changing the points. The reason for delays is the lack of functionality in the stations.
We will put in place many small interventions that are not easy to notice but that will bring greater efficiency, improved functionality, and greater safety of the railway network.
They have already told me off as you can’t see what I’m doing. The “bridge over the Straits” or “cathedrals in the desert” serve only for the glory of those who bring them about.
What the citizen needs is the morning train arriving and leaving on time and that it is safe.
Anyone who wants to know more about these investments can visit my Blog and the site of the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Finally we have financed a series of interventions that had already been planned but for which the resources were not available: the Palermo node, where the contractors were all ready to start but without the 900 million of finance; the Naples-Bari; the Taranto junction.
So many infrastructures, in the South and in the North, that have to be financed for an overall sum of 9,000,000,000 Euro.
I believe that this is an important message from who is doing the infrastructure in such a way that the environment is respected, that the road traffic is decreased, and above all the conditions are in place for relaunching the economy.
To put these infrastructure measures in place means creating employment and work. I’m saying this to the companies that are constantly lamenting: stop raising contentious issues and reservations that increase prices.
The projects are there. We have approved them. Participate in the tenders. Let the best be the winners.“

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 05, 2007

Convicts out of Parliament

We’re there! Yesterday we once again presented to the Senate the proposed law that we have been working on for some time.
A commitment we took on during the election campaign.
Italia dei Valori’s proposal stops anyone convicted from being a candidate and to sit in Parliament. We struggled to find the other signatures to support the document presented to our Senators.
In the end we used article 79 of the Senate’s internal regulations. This article obliges the presidency to accept and forward the text within one month if it is signed by 50% plus one of the members of a group.
The text will now come before the Justice Commission and then, if approved, it will go to the full house. This doesn’t mean that it is all downhill from here. Quite the opposite. We are at the first hurdle for a measure that is absolutely not well regarded by both the opposition and by the majority.
As often happens, there are many parliamentarians who tell us that we are right and that our battles are just, but when we ask them to give us a hand in Parliament, they move away looking at us as they we had the plague.
Right now in the Upper and Lower Houses there is a generous representation of convicts who have committed various crimes. At the same time we ask the citizens to respect the rule of law and we continue to say that the law must be equal for everyone.
There is discussion about which electoral law to be approved to modify the “pig” of a law produced by the Centre Right with which we were obliged to go to the urns for the last national election. Italia dei Valori wants the regulations about “not eligible to be a candidate” to be inserted into the electoral law whichever system finds agreement, and we ask that at the final vote on the draft law there is a vote in which the voters vote visibly.
In that way, we will know, and above all the Italian people will know who voted against and who voted in favour of a law that we believe is fundamental for an example of moral renewal that starts at the top and that the country urgently needs.
Yesterday the Antimafia Commission approved a self regulation code according to which the parties give a commitment not to put on their lists of candidates anyone who has a criminal conviction. This is a signal in the right direction. However, it’s a shame that this code of conduct is not obligatory.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
Commenti (0) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa

April 03, 2007

Telecom is an Asset of this Country

Tronchetti Provera has a problem. Olimpia has shares in Telecom Italia that it is valuing at well above the market value. On the Stock Exchange, Telecom is at slightly more than 2 Euros. But Tronchetti wants to sell at 2.92.
This is the main reason why he has not found a satisfactory negotiation with the Italian banking system and he is thinking of handing over Olimpia to the AT&T (USA) and to America Movil (Mexico)
The question that could be asked by the citizen or by the myriads of small shareholders is: “Why can Tronchetti ask 2.92 and the other Telecom shareholders have to put up with the constant losses of the last few years and sell at the market value?
The answer is in the ability that Olimpia has to give direction to the governance of Telecom, thanks to the current rules that allow the shareholder with 18% of the shares to impose their choices on the remaining 82%.
Whoever buys Olimpia can thus “command” Telecom. The minority governing in place of the majority: a paradox. A few gain, almost all lose. This must no longer be possible. The small shareholders must have representational structures. And certain mechanisms allowed on the Stock Exchange, as for example the “Chinese boxes” must be abolished.
Beppe Grillo has started an initiative called “share action” to give him the proxy votes of the small shareholders at the Telecom shareholders meeting.. I have decided to join this.
Telecom is a fundamental asset for Italy and it cannot be an object of financial speculation and I will reaffirm this at the urgent meeting I have requested with the President of the Council, Romano Prodi. At this meeting I will suggest we have a regulation, perhaps as a decree, to review the rules of governance and to prevent, straight away, that a minority can decide in place of a shareholder majority.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
Commenti (1) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | Stampa