Following the telephone call between Saccà and Berlusconi, there was talk of media pillory, violation of privacy and civil barbarity. The Justice Minister highlighted the urgency of January’s scheduled Senate approval of the draft bill to gag telephone taps, following its earlier approval by the Chamber.
The “Italia dei Valori” Party will be voting against the bill, although this is merely a symbolic gesture, given that the majority of the parties, both on the centre-right and on the centre-left, have agreed to approve it.
Politicians do not appreciate being caught with their hands in the cookie jar, indeed they scream foul when their conversations, with people who are under investigation for a wide variety of crimes, are made public.
There are two aspects worthy of comment in the current pseudo defence of privacy by these one-way privacy guarantors. The first is that it is not the politicians' calls that are being tapped, but those of people that are under investigation by the judiciary. If, for example, a member of the Mafia talks business with a politician, the politician is in no position to complain bitterly about privacy violation. Were he only to talk to honest people, then his privacy would be intact. The second aspect is that any public figure, parliamentarian, minister, party secretary is not above the law. Indeed, the exact opposite is true. He has a duty to ensure transparency in all his actions and, should he be under investigation, he should insist on being taken to Court immediately.
Nothing has been said about the Leader of the Opposition’s attempt to convince a senator to change sides, in return for services rendered by the Government television service, notwithstanding the fact that the news was made completely public by the telephone call with Saccà, which was published by the Espresso newspaper.
Berlusconi’s privacy, rather than the cow market in the Senate, has become the Parliament’s problem. There are far more important legislative urgencies that must take precedence over some law to safeguard politicians’ privacy, such as safety, temporary employment, workplace fatalities, conflict of interest and the radio and television system reforms. Not only should the law regarding telephone tapping not be approved, indeed it should not even make it to the voting floor.