June 28, 2007

Europa 7: Let’s apply the law

Italia dei Valori takes note of the government’s wish to resolve the Europa 7 affair. The amendments presented by Italia dei Valori and by a series of political groupings within the majority, make it possible to achieve the objective that is even shared by the Executive.
These amendments don’t have obstacles on the constitutional front, nor under the Community laws.
The only way to fulfil the constitutional law and the obligations to the Community is to approve them.
As regards the constitutional legitimacy, the amendments give due attention to the Constitutional Court judgements n. 466 of 2002 and n. 420 of 1994, both of which have been unimplemented for a good 13 years. As regards Community laws, the Council of State, at the instigation of Europa 7, has already identified 10 points on which the current regulations of the Italian radio and TV system does not appear to be in line with Community laws.
The European Commission has declared the Italian Government to be in the wrong for the special rights given to Mediaset as regards the possibility to continue holding on to the Retequattro frequencies, even though it has not received the relevant concession, as well as the possibility to acquire new frequencies, reserved just for operators who are already in activity.
The Majority must do its duty and restore the use of the frequencies that are today occupied abusively, to the bodies to which they have been assigned. There is a paradoxical hypothesis, that some have put forward, that to release the frequencies to Europa 7 would be a recognition of a “special right” to them.
They are the legitimate holders of a national concession that was awarded after a competition procedure, in accordance with Community law.
We need to restore the position according to law, following the principles of civil law. It’s not acceptable to put forward the idea of the danger that the amendments presented by nearly all the bodies within the majority can open the way to compensation for further damage relating to that already suffered by Europa 7 On the contrary, the amendments ensure that Europa 7 gets a specific pay back, the release of the frequencies, with the effect of reducing the damage that otherwise the State would have to pay in cash.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Economy
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June 27, 2007

PD: what counts is the programme not the leader

Just recently all sorts of people have been asking me what is the position of myself and of Italia dei Valori with respect to the Partito Democratico {Democratic Party}.I’m publishing an interview I gave today to the Eco di Bergamo

Eco di Bergamo: There’s a lot of activity in the Centre Left as they are waiting for the official appointment of Veltroni as leader of the Partito Democratico. What is the position of Italia dei Valori in relation to this news?
Antonio di Pietro: We are not running after symbols and people. We are concerned with shared programmes.
Veltroni could represent anything or nothing, according to the programme that he intends to take forward. If he, like Prodi, believes in putting together all the characters who are in opposition to the Casa delle Libertà simply to make electoral gains, then it’s a project that’s short of breath. And you can see that in the difficulty that we are living through in the government.

Eco di Bergamo: So what will you say to Veltroni?
Antonio di Pietro: We will meet up to understand his programme: tell me who you are with and I’ll tell you who you are…

Eco di Bergamo: With whom would you not be willing to go with?
Antonio di Pietro: It’s not a matter of names but of political actions. I believe that the communist model has by now finished its experience in the whole world. The idea that this is re-launched and made more extreme in Italy as far as the “no global” phenomenon can be admitted as freedom to express dissent but we can’t have these same people in the government.

Eco di Bergamo: So?
Antonio di Pietro: So Thus the current divisions need to be taken apart and put together in a different way: the Centre Right and Centre Left are offspring of an electoral law that demands 51 per cent and thus puts together political units that have political and cultural projects for government that are totally different.

Eco di Bergamo: Are you proposing a grand coalition?
Antonio di Pietro: Something that goes beyond that. A Liberal Democratic programme that can bring together all those who think in the same way on fundamental issues like the private and public economy, solidarity, ethical principles relating to order and security…. And to justice. Why not?
Even on this topic a certain type of Left wing is ambiguous: on the one hand they say they are with the magistrates, on the other hand however they land up being the representatives in parliament of those same social phenomena that go off and smash windows, burn cars and break heads. We are looking for models of liberal democracy that do not sit well with certain phenomena of a maximalist post-communist, made up solely of rights and demands and not of duties.

Eco di Bergamo: How can the decomposition of the political scene be done?
Antonio di Pietro: With a new electoral law and a big reduction in the number of parties including my own.

Eco di Bergamo: But in Italy is it possible to think of an alliance between reformers and moderates?
Antonio di Pietro: Perhaps in a transition phase. It’s not just to be thought of, it’s also necessary.

Eco di Bergamo: However this means that even Di Pietro must remove some of his reservations for example on Berlusconi…
Antonio di Pietro: I believe that politics can no longer go ahead on names. In the transition a named reference point is needed. In the medium and long term we need a cultural reference point. Italia dei Valori is not wholly and only Di Pietro and Forza Italia is not wholly and only Berlusconi.

Eco di Bergamo: They’ve always said about yourself: “what’s the connection with the Centre Left”. And the one who said that you are there for a moment while waiting to pass over to the Centre Right, was he right?
Antonio di Pietro: These classifications are by now superseded, simply convenient screens. The truth is that there are two Centre Lefts: a reformist one that is looking to tomorrow and a maximalist one that is still stuck at the famous assistance State, where they think the cow is always there for milking and that money can simply be printed for public spending.
And then it’s not possible that in the name of a sacred principle, like environmentalism, our country can be brought to its knees by the phenomenon of “niet” at all costs, whatever happens, whether it’s roads or trains or ports or airports.

Eco di Bergamo: Nice pictures…Antonio di Pietro: However, watch out. I find certain characteristics too often in the Centre Right. Many people say that what is needed is order, the rule of law, security, the fight against crime and so on. Then, in private, they behave in exactly the opposite way.
What’s more, they make specific laws so as to avoid being put on trial and to wipe out what was previously a crime.

Eco di Bergamo: How long do you give the current government?
Antonio di Pietro: I think that the election law must be the corner stone. To start discussing when there’s going to be an election without a new election law means simply putting off the solution to the problems. That is why the reinforcement of the referenda is good. Because it gives a time frame to the reform, even though I am convinced that it will produce a law that will be impossible to put into action.
You can’t create the rules of the game with a “yes” or “no”.

Eco di Bergamo: So why do you agree with the referendum?
Antonio di Pietro: Because otherwise an election law will not be done. Or whatever is done will be a life jacket for the positions that are already made up: that is the Mastella model. And this is not good because of the more than 40 parties at least two thirds need to go. For tiny parties like us we either need to grow or we have to flow into other realities. The party’s over.

Eco di Bergamo: What do you have to say about the political protagonism of the Confindustria?
Antonio di Pietro: I can understand it. For the Confindustria and for other realities that have to have an association of entrepreneurs, professions or workers if it’s not politics of the category? But I am upset that all are complaining about what the government has done or not done, saying that they were saints that they were not to blame and that they were saving the country. This country is the offspring of the politicians, the entrepreneurs, and the bankers that we have. It’s a people of saints, poets, navigators, swindlers, a few tax dodgers, and a few wide boys.

Eco di Bergamo: Not a day passes that Prodi doesn’t meet someone and get whistled at, often spontaneously. Well is it possible to go ahead in a country where they boo those they have elected?
Antonio di Pietro: It’s not that whoever boos is definitely right. I believe that taking refuge in this type of dissent is becoming a crafty habit to avoid facing up to and sharing the responsibilities of all.
Among the causes of its economic-institutional disturbance and credibility is the waste and the privileges for politicians and bureaucracy. Not to be forgotten as well is the common sense of the possibility to break the rules.
Because if it’s true that for every 100 euro the state should gain it doesn’t get 57, this means that there is a levelling down of the ethical sense:
everybody wants but no one wants to give.

Eco di Bergamo: But here they are all booing…
Antonio di Pietro: And this means that yours is a politics in which you try to satisfy everyone, it’s the politics of saying “yes” to everyone in words without however really giving the response that the people are asking for.
The whistles are the offspring of the fact that you haven’t satisfied anyone because you didn’t know how to take a decision. I am dealing with
infrastructure: is it possible that the biggest problems come to me from the allies, from friendly fire?

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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June 25, 2007

Let’s liberalise Information

Text:

“The political system is preparing, once more, to stop information. Information and the magistracy, the free magistracy, are an inseparable duo to guarantee freedom and democracy.
These are exactly the objectives that they have been trying to attack in recent weeks, preventing information from referring to what is happening in the secret rooms of power and preventing the magistracy from doing its duty in depth, even when it’s a matter of doing this with powerful people.
We are convinced that public opinion has the right to know everything that a politician or a powerful person does even when it’s not about facts that could be criminally relevant but when the facts have public relevance.
To affirm that everything that is not criminally relevant must not be made known to public opinion is a lie with short legs to hide the idea that the citizen should not know what is happening.
We are convinced that to sustain the necessity of reviewing the powers of the Public Prosecutor's Office, is another anti-democratic attempt and against the Constitution by trying to undermine the independence of the magistrates.
We cannot vote for a measure that says that only at the end of a trial is there a communication with the citizens to tell them what has happened.
I’m announcing the proposal of one of our amendments on this specific point, that is on the reviewing of the moment when the citizens can be informed of the events: for us, the appropriate moment is when the records are deposited.
Italia dei Valori does not accept to be simply a number in Parliament and in the Government: it is taking back its campaigning activity within the country system to encourage the citizens, by their action, to bring about a generational exchange of the political class as the only way to change things.”
PS: I invite you to participate in the meeting on Monday 25 June 2007 LA SCOMPARSA DELL'INFORMAZIONE {The disappearance of information}. The event will be in Milan at 8:45pm at the Camera del Lavoro, Corso di Porta Vittoria Camperio. As well as myself participants will be Oliviero Beha, Peter Gomez, Katerina Kort and Giovanni Pons.
Click here for information about the initiative: "La vera informazione garantisce la democrazia".{True information is a guarantee of democracy

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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The war on the roads

In a tiny village, Annico in the province of Cremona, two mothers and their children have been mown down on the pedestrian crossing.
An infant of 6 months was saved because the baby carriage was pushed away by the mother before she was knocked down. Carla Maria and Fiorenza aged not much more than 30 years, Sara aged 11 years are dead because of a motorcyclist who will now answer to the Justice system.
In Italy there’s an absence of a culture of road safety. Yesterday it happened in Annico, tomorrow it’ll be elsewhere, every day people die on the roads.
Cyclists and pedestrians are killed in the big cities, a fact that is by now accepted as though it is inevitable.
To tighten up the laws and for the law enforcement agencies to operate more controls, is possible and must be done
These actions however will not be useful unless at the same time there is a raised awareness at a national level of the massacre that is happening on our roads.
Thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of injured people every year are a national emergency that must be tackled with determination.
On this point, as Minister of Infrastructure, I will act as a promoter of a joint body on road safety with the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Education, the vehicle producers and the media.
However, my Ministry is already putting in place a series of measures to reduce roads accidents and I will keep you informed of these on the blog.
Among these are to tell Anas and the motorway concessionaires to ensure that the road surface has self-draining asphalt so as to give better visibility when it’s raining and thus reduce accidents.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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June 19, 2007

The finger that’s pointing at the moon

Free information is the basis of democracy. Without that every democratic mechanism ceases to exist.
The mixing up of politics and media in Italy is so abnormal that it is the determinant in the election of a President of the Council and in influencing public opinion every day with false news and biased comments to such an extent that it is insolent.
This connection must be cut in a radical way. Politicians must in no way be owners of newspapers or of TV channels. The Government must, on this point, act decisively and quickly to eliminate this anomaly in Italian democracy, even by issuing a decree.
We can’t allow ourselves to face new elections with the information system maimed by Berlusconi’s TV channels.
Together with this will to control information for some time now there have been signs of the will to attack the free journalism that is still present in Italy.
I want to be very clear: politicians must not interfere against the publication of articles relating to them with libel actions that intimidate and with threats against the magistrates. Let them do politics, dedicate themselves to making laws, to the political programme, and stop buying banks for the party or getting interests in publishing companies. That way, no intercept will be an embarrassment to them.
Politics needs transparency. You can’t expect to do this in the shadows, with strategies that are not known to the electors.
This is not the “political intelligence” that interests the Italians. Politicians must remember that they are only responsible to the country, to the citizens who pay their salaries.
The arrogance and the impunity of a political class that has been defined, too benevolently, as a caste, has reached such a point as to wish to prevent access to a journalist of a publication considered “not a friend” to a State aircraft, as though it were the private property of a Minister and not “a public good”.
A political class without discretion and that is absolutely bipartisan in attacking the judges, who have only respected the law by making public the records of Ricucci two years later, and the journalists who are exercising the duty of recording the news.
Italia dei Valori has created a long-lasting campaign to “liberalise” the semi-free information of our country. It will do this with draft laws, meetings in the cities of Italy with the citizens, with seminars.
In the Senate there will shortly be voting on the intercept law. My party is committed to prevent it becoming a gag imposed on journalists. And if a liberty-killing law should get through, Italia dei Valori will publish in my blog the texts that are forbidden to the journalists and anyone will be able to copy them and pass them on while citing the source.
Free information allows citizens to evaluate, to judge the actions of the government and the opposition. It is an indispensable instrument for the development of democracy and for good government. In the sights of politics today there are free journalists, who fortunately still exist, and the magistrates.
Instead of self-criticism there’s an attempt to attack those who point out anomalous and unjustifiable behaviour. Instead of looking at the moon, they are looking at the finger pointing to it.

Read more on the initiative: "La vera informazione garantisce la democrazia".

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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June 18, 2007

Council of Ministers. Intercepting Notables

Text:

Important decisions at the Council of Ministers and at CIPE: many things have been approved, most of which were about infrastructure that I brought to the discussion.
In contrast to what is said, we had already found the funds needed to do this work like the foot-of-the-mountains in Lombardy, the BreBeMi, the Asti-Cuneo, the stretch of railway Treviglio-Brescia and today a further two concessions have been approved: the TiBre and the Brescia-Padua.
There’s already a stretch of the Tirreno-Brennero motorway that goes as far as Parma but from there what is missing is the connection to the A22, the Autobrennero. The concession for this has been approved today.
Remember that “approved” means that the finance has already been found for this work, which obviously needs both the time for construction and the company that is to take on the concession.
Even the Brescia-Padua exists already but the beginning and end stretches are missing. The stretch in val Trompia is missing. This is served right now by tiny roads. What was missing, and this arrived today, was the approval for some of the parcels of the Val D’Astico south. For the stretch of the Val D’Astico north, the evaluation of the need for this work has been left up to the regions, who are deciding whether or not to go ahead with it.
We have even financed with 570 million euro, the completion of the C metro line in Rome. We have launched the plan for the railway work for the next five years starting with this year.
The Palermo node, the first stretch of the Naples-Foggia-Bari and a long list of work for which the regulatory and project phases have been approved and for which the financing will be approved on 28 June with the DPEF (Economic-Financial Programme Document).
Another really important decision by the Council of Ministers is the decree to liberalise the energy market. The citizens can now choose their energy operator, without a monopoly that imposes quality and prices for the service. More than one supplier in competition, thus, but with a base level for the minimum service, compatible with energy needs and the economic possibilities of all the citizens.
The positive day, however, was sullied by the umpteenth attack coming from the Centre Left , even from certain leaders, against the Milan prosecutors.
They are accusing the magistrates of illegal actions and intercepts and the journalists of illegal publication of these. Basically they are accusing them of carrying out a political battle. They are all words already pronounced by Berlusconi, when he was being investigated, to which the response was to stop criminalizing the magistrates because they and their colleagues have the responsibility to do this.
The guilt is never of the ones investigating but of who is committing crimes. The problem is not the intercept that is published but to know whether the content, that is right for the public to know about, is true or false.
Once more, when the facts relate to directors of the Centre Left, these behave just like Berlusconi and they accuse the Milan Prosecutors.
Someone has said: “it seems that we are going back to 1992. In what way? In 1992 a positive thing happened! There were magistrates discovering crimes committed by politicians and entrepreneurs. They were things that had happened leading up to 1992 that were scandalous: kick-backs, illegal financing, corruption, corruption of public officials, abuse of public office, and misappropriation. The guilt in 1992 was associated with those who committed the crimes not those who searched them out.
Today they are discovering other crafty ones and other political sponsors even in the Centre Left and once more they want to put the blame on the magistrates.
Is it possible that they can’t listen to the will of the citizens? We have done many positive things, today, but tomorrow in the newspapers there’ll only be a discussion of the usual clan of political notables who, given the common interests on the Left and on the Right, will approve a law to prevent the publication and execution of telephone intercepts. It’s as though, once an illness has been discovered, instead of treating it, you eliminate the doctor. That doesn’t stand up.
Let us do our duty for the country and let’s allow the magistrates to do their duty.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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June 15, 2007

The end of the line for Parliamentary Privileges

I’m publishing a letter from Silvana Mura, a deputy with Italia dei Valori.
“Following the wave of unpopularity that has hit politics, all of a sudden all the parties seem to have rediscovered the topic of excess costs and the many privileges that there main players enjoy.
Nearly all the leaders have participated in the debate indicating this or that recipe, but at the moment, concrete solutions are not visible.
In the Commission for Constitutional Affairs in the Lower House, it has been decided to start a wide ranging fact-finding investigation before putting anything into action.
One may ask what there is to be found out and discovered on a topic like that of the cost of politics well known not just to those on the job but also to the citizens.
One could suspect that there’s an attempt to lengthen the time frames in the hope that with the passage of time the attention will fall off and everything can be left as it is now.
To do an in depth examination of complex arguments like institutional reform, or the rationalization of the public administration is definitely useful, but on everything that is a question of privilege like the pension for parliamentarians, or all the benefits that are set up, the response must be immediate.
Italia dei Valori has presented a draft law and if there is the will, this could be examined and voted on in the Lower and Upper Houses in a few months and come into force by 2008.

The most important points in our draft law are as follows:
1) Reform of the pensions for parliamentarians. The new system increases the number of years needed to get a pension and it reduces the amount paid. To have the right to a pension, a parliamentarian will have to have been in parliament for at least 10 years and they will get an income for life that is 25% of the salary.

2) Elimination of the benefits enjoyed by parliamentarians. Parliamentarians will no longer have the right to free travel on the motorways, the railways, ships and aircraft, nor will they have telephone expenses reimbursed. For all the items classed as expenses claimed (that are currently on the basis of an expense allowance) these will only be reimbursed on the submission of the appropriate official receipts and an explanation of the reason for that expenditure.

3) Publicising and transparency of the balance sheets. The balance sheets of the Lower House, the Upper House, the Quirinale but also of the Constitutional Court and of CNEL must be made public and accessible to all the citizens.

4) No privileges for those who are no longer in post. Once the Presidents of the Lower and Upper Houses and of the Constitutional Court cease to have their position, they will no longer have the right to benefits that they currently enjoy (official blue cars, secretaries, offices and expenses)

5) A slimmer government with fewer Ministries. It is established that the total number of Ministries forming the government cannot be more than 17. The total number of people in the whole government including vice ministers and undersecretaries cannot be more than 72 (currently the total is 102).

6) Abolition of public funding of all party publications. As well as these points that alter the privileges that are the most shameful and most objectionable for the public, there are a series of regulations to reduce the spending of government and of local bodies, to put a cap on the use of and payment to consultants by local administration.

These are simple measures that will impact on the phenomenon and situations that everyone knows about and they must be voted on urgently.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Reducing the costs of politics
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The Credibility of the Executive

I’m publishing an interview given to il Corriere della Sera that is published today on page 9.

ROME – Now he can say “told you so”. Because from the beginning Antonio Di Pietro has contested the action of the government in the «Visco case».and even presenting to the Senate a motion for the withdrawal of the delegation of responsibility for the Guardia di Finanza from the vice minister of the Economy. And thus obliging the executive to have to second him so as not to be beaten in the Senate.

Corriere della Sera: The Court of Accounts agrees with you?
Antonio Di Pietro: «More haste less speed and the haste has evidently even caused procedural errors. But that is not the main problem. Because this type of mistake can easily be rectified. »

Corriere della Sera : And the rest?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Exactly, that’s what is more difficult to rectify. »

Corriere della Sera : What is it that hasn’t satisfied you?
Antonio Di Pietro: «What remains is the incongruence between the reasons for the substitution and the nomination as magistrate to the Court of Accounts. The minister of the Economy, Tommaso Padoa Schioppa has had the opportunity to talk about this with great clarity and honesty and we need to give him credit for this.

Corriere della Sera : Should the new position not have been offered to General Speciale?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Absolutely not! You cannot withdraw a role from someone whether he is an official or an office worker saying that he is not worthy of the position and then ask him to go the Court of Accounts

Corriere della Sera : So what is the solution?
Antonio Di Pietro: «There should have been a normal procedure for the affair with the time frame needed and with the agreement of the relevant person. Or he should have been described as he has been described, but then he should have been referred to appear before the Court of Accounts not appointed to be part of it. »

Corriere della Sera: So you are still negative about everything?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Certainly, but not because there is now formal action to be taken into account. I repeat, this is not the critical point. What’s at stake is the credibility of the government, that now definitely has to be reconstructed. »

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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June 11, 2007

Untouchables Get Out!

I am publishing an open letter from Franca Rame to Romano Prodi about public officials who have been convicted.

“Dear President of the Council Romano Prodi,
we citizens ask you to put an end to an infamy that is undermining the efficiency and the honesty of the Public Administration
We ask you to affirm the pact between workers and companies also inside the public administration.
We ask that all the public officials who have been convicted be automatically sacked without the possibility of wriggle room. There’s a draft law in preparation, put forward within the majority, that would mean the sacking of only those public employees who have been convicted and sentenced to more than two years for corruption, sexual violence and paedophilia. In this way 98% of the convicts would stay in the Public Administration!
It’s an intolerable proposal and it is insulting to the citizens and to those public officials who are honest!
A public official represents the State. Therefore they must be people of maximum integrity. Today there are individuals like the former minister, De Lorenzo who are still on the payroll of the institutions. There are often teachers who have been convicted of paedophilia who are still in post!
Parliament is about to examine the new law on the sacking of convicted public officials. This is the moment for a battle that we can win. Sign our letter to Prodi. For information on the topics of the petition we invite you to watch the edition of Report that was broadcast on Sunday. If we want to re-establish a relationship between the citizens and the institutions it is essential that we start here.
We ask that the Public Administration insists on getting a payment to pay back the damage to their image that these types of crime create.
We ask furthermore, that together with this law on the sacking of public employees there is also approval of the proposed law presented by Franca Rame on the procedural code on judgements of the Court of Accounts, that annuls the amnesty established by the Berlusconi Government that allows convicted public officials to avoid making full repayments for the damage they have caused.
Finally we ask that the transfer of Luigi Magistro be revoked. He is the creator of the information control system against the tax frauds in Audit. Is it ever possible that once there is a public official who successfully fights corruption, he should be punished?
With the certainty that you will want to be committed to this “operation of cleanliness and justice” by giving a sign that is loud and clear to the country, we greet you cordially.”
Franca Rame

To sign up to this appeal:
www.francarame.it

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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June 10, 2007

All are equal before the law

I’m publishing an interview I gave to La Repubblica on the attack by the media against the Milan Magistrate, Clementina Forleo:

Repubblica: Mastella is in conflict with Forleo. Is he going beyond his powers?
ADP: «As long as the Centre Left are insisting on going against the magistrates every time they carry out an investigation on parliamentarians, they are behaving like a photocopy of the Centre Right in the politics of justice. A credible country is one in which whoever is in Parliament is not committing crimes, not one where it’s not possible to investigate to find out whether a deputy or a senator has committed a crime. The authorisation to proceed has had its day and has degenerated from its original functions. From a tool to give immunity it has become a tool for impunity for those who take advantage of their status to become “legibus solute” {absolved from law.».

Repubblica: So Mastella is making a mistake?ADP: «This time I am not falling into the Di Pietro-Mastella diatribe. He is merely the interpreter and the operational arm of a wish that is above him, shared by the Centre Right and the Centre Left to make a stand against the legitimate action of the magistracy that wants to do a 360 degree investigation
The Constitution protects the parliamentarians, but it also says that everyone is equal before the law. However the abuse and the distorted use of the authorisation creates two justice systems. A harsh one for the normal folk and one that is nude in front of those who hold the power. Italia dei Valori is not going to accept all this any more.

Repubblica: If you attack Mastella you’ve got to do the same with Marini and Bertinotti who’ve written letters that are identical to his.
ADP: «That confirms my point, but Mastella is executing a parliamentary and institutional order to block every investigation concerning his colleagues. It is a spectacular error because in this case the work of the magistrates is helping the people involved like never before.».

Repubblica: Are you referring to the DS?
ADP: «It’s evident that those intercepts are not criminally relevant, because if they were they would already have been taken into consideration in the preparatory measures that were issued at the time.
But to prevent their use is equivalent to ensure not just the immunity but also the impunity for all those for whom the intercepts could be evidence.»

Repubblica: Mastella finds it «unacceptable» that Forleo says «I apply the law and politics is not my business». Who is right?
ADP: «The behaviour of Forleo literally mirrors what the constitution says because the judges must not be interested in politics, they must only be concerned with the law. Let it be clear: the intercepts that are relevant to the trial must be made available to the two sides so that they can evaluate them and ask for further information. To prevent this is to block the evidence for the prosecution and the defence and thus the very exercise of the criminal proceedings. To say this is reaffirming not a right but a responsibility.»

Repubblica: So why is Bertinotti saying that the opinion of the Lower House is needed first?ADP: There is evidently a basic misunderstanding, that I hope was not intended. There is no doubt that the Giunta is sovereign, but just for the parliamentarians and not also for third parties. Otherwise there would be an abuse of power. »

Repubblica: Are we going back to the “Mani Pulite” tussles of 1993?ADP: «We have the photocopy of what was happening then when the magistrates entered the “sancta sanctorum” of parliament for really serious crimes and the people inside hid behind the authorisation.
There was a popular uprising that led to the institution being reviewed, but since then, with extensive interpretations, deputies and senators have reacquired their impunity as a place of impunity.»

Repubblica: You keep on talking about authorisation, but what do you think of the reaction of D’Alema and Fassino talking about “rubbish” thrown around carefully?
ADP: The dossier system is here today as it was yesterday and before that. I can confirm that as I have lived through the experience personally. But it has nothing to do with the magistracy because it is exactly thanks to the judges that the traps have been triggered. They are the only ones who can put a stop to the transversal exploitation put in place by a mix of people who take advantage of their institutional functions to delegitimise their adversaries. But the only defence is by supporting the magistracy.
Even the systematic calumny against D’Alema, who has my complete solidarity, can be quickly unmasked by the judges and transformed into a boomerang for those that started it. »

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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June 06, 2007

Council of Ministers. Lands controlled by the military

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“Because of the commitments of the President of the Council, who will go to Germany on Thursday for the G8 Summit, the Council of Ministers met today. However on Thursday we will have another meeting where we will discuss the measures relating to the decrees that are near the ends of their time limits: I’m talking about certain international treaties related to which we have to issue decrees to put them into effect.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that we also talked about the Visco case, but I’ll deal with this a bit later. Apart form the ordinary matters, we also discussed a topic raised by the President of Sardinia, Soru. He talked about it at the Council of Ministers.
He spoke at the Council of Ministers because the law allows for the participation of the Presidents of the Regions with Special Statute, when we are talking about a topic that relates to them.
Soru raised the issue: until when will Sardinia have to keep the lands controlled by the military for the Italian State?
It’s clear that the armed forces have to stay somewhere: at one time, we are talking of decades ago, it was decided to place big reserves of vehicles and hardware in Sardinia.
For example, the ammunition, the shooting ranges, even for practising with heavy weapons, many barracks, logistical equipment.
Basically, there’s a strong military presence in Sardinia. At the time it was chosen, Sardinia was selected because it was sparsely populated.
The issue raised by Soru is: “there are 20 regions, when will the occupation of the lands by the military finish in my region and when will another region take on this burden?”
Soru pointed out that in Sardinia there are thousands of hectares of land that cannot be used because they are used by the military and thus this limits the economy. According to the zone, these lands have been used for 50, 60 and even 70 years for the military logistics of the State.
Soru asks: “Why just in Sardinia and not in other regions?”
It’s a great question: today was the beginning of the discussion, and it cannot be concluded in 2 days because a solution can be achieved only if another location is found for these structures.
There was an interesting exchange of opinions, not always coinciding, between the President of the Region of Sardinia and the Minister of Defence, Parisi, also from Sardinia.
We put off until Thursday, the discussion of the bankruptcy law. I have already indicated the attempt to bring to the Council of Ministers the reform of the crime of bankruptcy to halve the sentence. This part of the reform has been suspended but on Thursday the civil part of the reform will be discussed.
Even here there has been a divergence of opinion not just between myself and Mastella but between myself and the rest of the Government, which worries me much more.
I have been told that this draft law cannot be modified because there’s an agreement with the opposition. I replied that what worries me is exactly that.
Every time there’s talk of the justice system, there’s always an agreement with the opposition. We can even do things on our own, some time, without always trying to get the agreement with the opposition!
Here are the relevant questions: according to this reform, when there’s a bankruptcy, the person responsible for the bankruptcy once more gains all the rights once the bankruptcy proceedings have finished.
I maintain that there should be a rehabilitation procedure, as happens now, that checks that the person concerned is not using the system of enterprises to operate swindles or frauds.
Furthermore, they want to modify the position of the Creditors Committee, that should become more or less not responsible. I say that, if the little that remains after a bankruptcy, the Committee must be responsible for their own actions, to avoid disparity of payments made because of conflicts of interest.
I have taken note of the agreement that has been made with the opposition, but I will always reserve the right to dissent.
Finally the Visco case. Visco has resigned his responsibilities, as requested by Italia dei Valori, and for us that matter is now closed. Now, the problem is the Speciale case. If the General has been removed for ordinary happenings there should be a procedure starting off to put forward alternative possibilities that are agreed with the relevant person, in the time frame and the ways laid down in the law.
If he is sent away from one day to the next, there needs to be a reason. In the absence of official reasons, the unofficial reasons become more dramatic.
We need to understand the reason for this removal. Up until now, we don’t really know except for the chattering in the corridors of power. I am not naïve. I have understood what is behind this. But let this be made public. The accusation that at the Command of the Guardia di Finanza there are those who have interests that are different from Justice must be proved, otherwise it should not even be imagined. This affair must be cleared up by the relevant person, that is by the one who asked for the removal of the 4 officers.
With great pride I will go to the festival of the Guardia di Finanza at the end of the month, at L’Aquila and I will continue to express my closeness and my thanks to the whole of the Guardia di Finanza, that must not humiliated. We need operational forces that ensure that we have the rule of law and security.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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June 04, 2007

Council of Ministers. Visco’s Responsibilities

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“Yesterday was a delicate and important day because, before the Council of Ministers, there was a meeting between the Secretaries of the Parties in the Majority Coalition that is a check on the coalition. After the local elections, even though some pretend that it’s not true, in fact, many things have changed.
For us in Italia dei Valori, they’ve changed in our favour: we have tripled our votes, a demonstration that the politics of action has been appreciated.
From the viewpoint of the coalition, it was a Caporetto, especially for the Democratic Party that has halved the votes. Yesterday morning there was a discussion about how to go about relaunching the credibility of the coalition.
We also talked about the Visco affair: at the beginning it seemed as though the defendant was me.
You know the facts: After the national elections Visco asked for the transfer of four of the top officials in the Guardia di Finanza working on delicate investigations like Antonveneta, the attempt to take over il Corriere, Parmalat.
The polemics all came out now with the elections, but anyway we need to understand the motive for this transfer request. There’s need for an explanation. Not everything can be left in the dark.
We presented an motion to Parliament in which we asked for explanations or the resignation of the Deputy Minister Visco. At the beginning they derided us, then they got angry: yesterday morning that pointed out to us that it would have been possible for the Government to fall. I pointed out that the whole point is the credibility of the Government.
Thus the President f the Council was given the task of considering a solution and evidently, the arguments that I put forward were convincing if it is true, and it is true, that he accepted Visco’s resignation from responsibility for the Guardia di Finanza.
Then the Council of Ministers decided to remove the Commander of the Guardia di Finanza. Is the concept clear?
There’s a body, the Guardia di Finanza that feels it has been wronged and it denounces this, there’s an inquiry, everything is suspended and the person responsible for what was wrong resigns from that responsibility. But the Commander of that body is also transferred.
If it were a matter due to the break down in relations between the top level of the political structures and the top level of the Guardia di Finanza, you could understand it. But if it was a vendetta?
It wasn’t possible to transfer the people reporting to Commander Speciale so he himself was removed. We’ll wait and see. Italia dei Valori will be vigilant in relation to this affair.
In general, there’s another question: we in Italia dei Valori are loyal but we will not stay there just looking. We want total discontinuity with the politics of Berlusconi in relation to the Justice System.
Instead, the pardon was done; every day in the last 2 weeks, authorization to proceed against parliamentarians on the right or on the left, is denied; if we hadn’t noticed it they would have cut the penalty for bankruptcy in half, the measures on telephone intercepts have become censorship, in the conflict of interests there’s a regulation inserted to forbid the candidacy to convicts; false accounting has not been restored. The “ad personam” laws done by the Berlusconi Government are still there.
Basically we need to check up on things. Italia dei Valori can’t wait much longer for measures on these topics.
The Visco case is the latest in the area of a more delicate problem about the relationship between the magistracy and politics that the Centre Left has not changed in any way from that of the Centre Right. Do you remember the Abu Omar case?
The Milan magistracy is investigating that abduction, the Government says that it has declared State Secrecy when it’s not true, and at the Constitutional Court they accuse the magistracy of putting the pressure on!!!
Yesterday I made my voice heard and I said that I’m waiting for responses to understand if the path that Italia dei Valori wants to take is compatible with the coalition.
As I said, an initial response has come, and while we are waiting for the clarification which must come, Visco’s resignation from responsibility for the Guardia di Finanza, shows that he is a responsible person. We have withdrawn the motion in Parliament. We are now waiting for the motivation for the removal of Commander Speciale: we can’t accept a vendetta against him.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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