February 27, 2008

The horror of Justice

Today Silvio Berlusconi spoke these words on "Radio anch'io": "Io ho orrore di Di Pietro e lo dico alto e forte” {I have a horror of Di Pietro and I say that loud and strong}.
What follows is my reply on Corriere.it
Berlusconi reminds me of the story of the fox who when he couldn’t reach the grapes said that they were bitter. Years ago he wanted me to be the Minister of the Interior. Today he doesn’t even want me to be in Parliament.
The truth is simple. He’s afraid that the Italia dei Valori -Partito Democratico combination could win the elections because it is more credible in its men and in its programme, in which we tackle concrete topics instead of denigrating the opposition.
My own fault is to have done “Mani Pulite”. It was the backhanders that were horrible as well as the embezzlement that was happening then and that is happening now, not the magistrates who are doing their duty or those politicians who demand that Parliament makes laws that give back the transparency to politics and to the business world.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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February 26, 2008

Paedophilia: draft laws already exist

I’m publishing a communication by Egidio Pedrini, an IdV deputy and secretary to the Communications Committee of the Lower House. It’s about violence towards children.
”Veltroni today spoke out about the issue of paedophilia, a topic on which no one can afford to stop being vigilant. However, I would like Veltroni to take note that last June, motion number 1-00194 was approved by the Lower House that among the commitments of the government set out one to “take every action so that” the United Nations comes to recognise paedophilia as a crime against humanity, and then in July 2007 draft law number 2941 on paedophilia was laid before the House. Mine was the top signature on this document. It increases penalties and makes them more certain for paedophiles and then there is the draft law number 3310 dated December 2007, once again with my signature. This is an addition to the penal code and brings in the law of kidnapping of children. Both draft laws set out the impossibility of the use of “prescrizione” {time out} for the crime of violence against children or the possibility of this starting only at the moment that the victim becomes an adult. These two draft laws are on the website of the Lower House and anyone can follow the progress of their passage through Parliament. On the topic of the fight against paedophilia that relates to the whole of society, it could be possible to ask for a unanimous convergence, even with the Houses not in session, really because paedophiles or those who commit acts of violence against children can strike at any moment.
Pedrini Egidio"

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Justice
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February 25, 2008

A story made up of legality

A reader has drawn my attention to this video appearing on You tube, which acknowledges some of the battles going on in favour of legality and transparency within the institutions.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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Clean information for a clean Parliament

Berlusconi’s “Il Giornale”, as well as “Panorama”, also from the Berlusconi stable, blares with the headline “Di Pietro under investigation”, detailing a never-ending string of crimes. It would appear that they are carrying out heaven alone knows what sort of investigation with regard to me, and heaven alone knows all the crimes I am supposedly guilty of, together with the other leaders of the “Italia dei Valori” party regarding public contributions allegedly received.
As a matter of fact, this issue relates back to a series charges laid by one of the sympathisers and members of the “Italia Dei Valori” party, who subsequently left because he could no longer support our policies and, in doing so, unleashed no less than 13 cases in civil court and one more in the criminal court. All of the civil court cases have now been heard, all of which he lost and for which he was obliged to bear the legal costs. This person has not even bothered to pay the legal costs that he was ordered to pay for all 13 cases and, precisely because of this failure to comply with the provisions of the sentence regarding the false accusations contained in his charges, his home has been seized and put up for sale.
Based on the same allegations, this person also submitted the same claims to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which, already in March of last year, requested that the claims be archived due to lack of sufficient grounds to proceed, issuing a preliminary statement that the person in question is emotionally involved in all of the claims and is not entirely clear as regards his expression of wishes. Thus, in the words of the Public Prosecution, what is being requested is archiving rather than investigation, in terms of which I was not even questioned since it was not deemed to be necessary. Today, on the eve of the elections, this is being turned around by Berlusconi’s newspapers, namely “Il Giornale” and “Panorama”, into an accusation to be spread out on the front page in an attempt to denigrate and defame an adversary.
We must think about this. In recent days, I threw down the gauntlet and proposed the need for the kind of information that is not subservient to any master’s orders, a kind of information that is independent and transparent. Democratic is that Country and population where those who govern are subjected, amongst the many controls, to a kind of information that tells the facts for what they really are.
These same facts were already used at the time of the 2006 elections, since they date back to 2004, however, they had already been dismissed and the civil decisions already handed down, which proved the total lack of grounds for the claims made by this compulsive letter-writer, who was going around laying charges left and right at all the courts. In 2006 they used this tactic in an attempt to discredit us during the electoral campaign, and only now they have once again been exhumed on a technicality, which I will explain shortly, in yet another attempt to discredit us during this electoral campaign.
The technicality is quite simple: if, when a request for archiving has been submitted, the counterpart, in this case the professional, compulsive letter-writer, lodges an objection to the archiving, a hearing has to be held in order to discuss the objection to the archiving of the case.
As far as I am aware, no criminal action has been instituted because such action has never begun and there have never been any hearings held in this regard.
The moral of the story: when, during an electoral campaign, on the very day when the “Italia dei Valori” Party and the Democratic Party countersign a very precise election programme laying out undertakings on what is to be done for the electorate, including concrete actions envisaged in the fields of legislation, employment, security and information, our opponents feel the need to resort to exploiting this kind of untruth in an attempt to undermine our electoral campaign, then it means that they are really becoming desperate.
There is also another, far more important moral: it becomes obvious that, during the election campaign, when we say that the next Government will have to address the issue of conflict of interests, this is a patent example of the problem because, as long as we have to trust the party in power to also control the flow of information, we will be faced with the continuous and effective use of this very same information apparatus to disintegrate the political opposition. It hurts and bothers me, but I have nevertheless grown accustomed to it, however, how many other people are able to withstand the current level of disinformation in our Country?
One of the topics that the “Italia dei Valori” party is re-launching during this electoral campaign is precisely this: clean information for a clean Parliament.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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February 20, 2008

TV Channels: the facts according to Marco Travaglio

This is how the facts are:
”Sorry about the boring stuff, but we are talking about the TV. This square machine in which the other evening Cainano could talk with impunity about how he fought like a lion against the exit of Enzo Biagi from the RAI, but there was nothing to be done when the elderly Enzo was too keen to get his hands on the money and escaped with a large end-of-work-payment. In front of him, in the place of Johnny Raiotta, the director of TG!, there was a cardboard cut-out that naturally did not respond.
The day before yesterday, Antonio Di Pietro said something obvious, it’s necessary to apply the European verdict relating to Europa7 and move Rete4 to satellite. Then he said he hoped for RAI to be cut down to “a single channel with no advertising, financed by the licence fee and removed from the influence of the parties” and that every concessionaire would not be able to have more than one channel.
On this second point, there’s the freedom of thought: in the PD {Democratic Party}, on the Left, on the Right, above and below. But as regards the obligation to put into action the verdicts of the European Court, there’s not much to be discussed, it just needs doing full stop. However Di Pietro has been overwhelmed with criticism, attacks and abuse. That it is the Berlusconians that are trying to silence him, from Cicchitto to Fede, from il Giornale to il Foglio, from Facci to Donna Barbuta, is part of the game: the broad band defends the cash box. What is decidedly more extravagant is that the top brass in the PD are doing this.
Gentiloni: “The Council of State will make an announcement in the next few months, and in the light of the announcement, we will take appropriate steps.”
Follini: “The position of the PD is contained in the two Gentiloni DDLs that have been laid before Parliament.”
Veltroni: “I would never feel like pronouncing words to attack Berlusconi. We have a joyous polemic with him, but it’s OK like that: Italians are tired of abusive remarks.” In fact no one wants to send out abuse. However, it would be interesting to know how the PD intends to act in relation to TV.
Also because the head of information, Marco Follini, is not one with the same name as the one who approved the save-Rete4 decree and the Gasparri law: it’s always him. Perhaps he needs to come out of the tunnel of the Gasparri law. Explaining to him, with the necessary precautions, that the European Court has reduced to nothing, the argument of “transitory regime” on which were founded the Maccanico, the Gasparri and the Gentiloni.
To sum up: since 1994 the Consultation body has been telling Fininvest to give up a channel or to move it to satellite. The Maccanico allowed it to have a bit more time that was more or less without limit. This lasted even after 1999 when Europa7 won the concession and Rete4 lost it, but Rete4 continued to occupy the frequencies due to Europa7. In 2002, the Consultation body went back to fixing as a maximum just two channels for Mediaset and it gave them time until 31 December 2003. Berlusconi with the “salva-Rete4” {save Rete4} and Gasparri with the Gasparri law concluded the game, with the excuse that when digital terrestrial arrives (forecast for 2006) thousands of channels will come out. The Gentiloni changed nothing on the number of channels, limited itself to move digital to 2012, and said nothing about the frequencies of Europa7: another transition period that crystallized the status quo, that is the monopoly of Mediaset. Meanwhile on 19 June 2007, Mrs. Kroes, the European Commissioner for Competition, brought a default action against the Italian Government to immediately modify the Gasparri law, that allows access to digital only for RAI and Mediaset, and it announced the offence procedure against Italy.
At the request of Europa7, the Council of State asked the Luxembourg Court if the Italian rules are legitimate. On 31 January 2008, the Court replied that they are illegitimate (the Maccanico, the Gasparri and implicitly also the Gentiloni) exactly because they allow a transition period to Rete4, to the detriment of Europa7: the Council of State will have to pay compensation to Europa7 for the lack of income and for the frequencies denied. Commissioner Kroes announces that this is also the European Union position: if in 2009, Italy does not change the system, it will be fined 350-400 thousand Euro a day, with back payments due from 2006. That is: the Italians will pay Europe and Europa7 enormous sums, because all the governments since 1994 up until now have favoured Berlusconi. Now, waiting for the Council of State (that should apply Luxembourg’s verdict) or to appeal to the defunct Gentiloni (which has been superceded by Luxembourg’s verdict) is a crafty move that offers little breathing space. To put into action the verdicts of the Consultation body and of the European Court is not doing a favour to Di Pietro or being disrespectful to Berlusconi. It’s a duty full stop.
Marco Travaglio"

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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The right to choose

I’ve received this declaration released today from Fabio Evangelisti, deputy with Italia dei Valori.
During Maria Latella’s programme, there was the umpteenth example of how certain characters are using politics and the problems of the country to get notoriety, perhaps even power, and why not, even a seat in Parliament.
And so it was while Giuliano Ferrara was busy on the Sky Tg 24 news programme giving out his ideas about the right to abortion on the lives of women in Italy, a 20 year old of Chinese origin is fighting for her life following a delicate operation that was made necessary because of an clandestine abortion.
It is a vile practice that it is unnecessary to remind ourselves found the law 194 to be a valid eradicating agent, but that is still found in the woodwork of our society. There is no doubt that any law can be improved and applied in a more complete way, but it is unthinkable that in a situation of this type, in which there is the use of a clandestine procedure to interrupt a pregnancy, there’s the wish to step back 30 years, and remove from women the right to choose how and whether or not to go on with their own pregnancy.
To those like Ferrara, who point to such delicate questions to gain consensus, there is nothing else but for me to put forward a very simple invitation: to go and visit the young Chinese woman who is being cared for at Careggi in Florence.
Italia dei Valori has fought during the Prodi government and it will fight in the next government to defend the right of women to choose on the topic of abortion.

Previous articles:
Law 194, useless discussions
Campagna elettorale sulla 194
Legge 194? Parliamo anche di fecondazione assistita
Un diritto di scelta

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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February 19, 2008

Michele and Claudio will not vote on 13 April

Michele Truocchio and Claudio Ingoglia will not vote on 13 April
No TV News bulletin has included this in its opening headlines. And yet they should have done. They died for us as well. They died at work.
Michele, 44 years old, in Sant’Agata dei Goti in the province of Benevento, Claudio, 22 years old, in Campobello di Mazara near Trapani, both on 16 February.
On this site, each day, I am publishing the names of those who have died at work.
Every day someone dies and almost every time it’s a matter of an avoidable death.
Whoever dies leaves behind families that receive a cheque, if they receive it and then they are forgotten. At the centre of the election debate this national disgrace must find the maximum space. Deaths at work are not fatalities.

In the first position, Italia dei Valori has placed the topic of WORK in its election proposals with these three points:

- Improve law 30 (maximum percentage of precarious workers present in a company to be 10%, reduction of the tax burden for the companies and for the employees on fixed term contracts.)
- Definition of facilities to get young people started in the world of work
- Increase in the harshness of penalties for the owners of companies who do not guarantee the safety of workers with the closure of the company in the most serious cases.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Work
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February 18, 2008

Great Biagi, tiny public TV

In a recent interview with Gianni Riotta, director of TG1, Silvio Berlusconi, has spoken about Enzo Biagi. He revealed that he wanted to keep Biagi in the RAI and that the journalist declined his offer so that he could get a substantial end-of-employment-lump-sum. Riotta, who is the director of the most important public news broadcast did not feel it his duty to come back on that. Riotta himself had declared that he modeled himself on Biagi.
The truth is that Berlusconi, with his famous “editto bulgaro” {edict from Bulgaria} booted out Enzo Biagi because of his independence. As he did with Michele Santoro and Daniele Luttazzi.
Enzo Biagi had a great defect for the head of the PDL: he told the truth. A dead person cannot defend himself. You cannot have a face to face argument with a person who is no longer with us.
This episode is just the umpteenth of a very bad start to the election campaign on behalf of the media. A situation that highlights the inadequacy of our information system, often a medium of obvious falsities that become “truths” only because they are repeated often over time.
In its proposals for a government programme, Italia dei Valori has a radical intervention in relation to information:
- a single public TV channel without advertising, paid for with a licence fee and removed from the influence of parties
- the putting into operation of the European verdict relating to Europa 7 and the moving of Rete 4 to satellite
- the limit of a single channel for private concessionaires (like Mediaset)
- abolition of public financing of the publishing industry.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 16, 2008

The Pd-Idv Agreement

I’m publishing an article by Marco Travaglio on the Pd-Idv agreement.
The PD-Di Pietro agreement does not please Platinette Barbuto, which means that it is a good thing. It doesn’t even please Cainano, and this too should be a good sign, as well as a natural fact: the memory of “Clean Hands” is for him like garlic for the vampires; the fact that the 4-5% of the votes that are accredited to the former prosecutor is not to be forgotten with the piggish game of the quorums lessens the distance between the people of the prescritti-in-liberty and the Pd-Idv, as well as that it cuts – really revolutionary – convicted candidates even at the first degree will make even more scandalous the Berlusconian and UDC candidatures of well known convicts and provisional convicts, and the presence of the former prosecutor will make it a bit more difficult to have the hoped for (by Cainano) mess-ups with the justice system, the TV and the “great reforms”.
A bit less understandable is that the nuptials of Uòlter and Tonino has created scandal in the Democratic Party, above all if Cainano’s same arguments are used. To be noted, in its small way, is the case of Peppino Caldarola, who in the course of a year has managed to pass from being a follower of D’Alema to a D’Alema-opposer, to exit from the DS because he didn’t agree with the PD project and then to come back into the PD because he liked Veltroni, and now he’s threatening to leave because he doesn’t like Veltroni’s choice. “It seems difficult for me to stay in the same party” as Di Pietro, he announced scowling. Reason: “What will happen to our dialoguing campaign with Berlusconi, with dipietrists and grillists that call him the ‘psycho-dwarf’?”
It’s exactly what Berlusconi says. Anyway, the other day, the unsettled Caldarola had written an article for Berlusconi’s il Giornale to ask, after the elections, for a nice government of wide understanding with Forza Italia, right at the moment that Uolter was denying that he had ever had this intention. So there, it is interesting the position of a hopeful candidate of the PD who wants to govern with Berlusconi, Dell’Utri and Cuffaro, but Di Pietro (dangerously with no convictions) he doesn’t even want to see.
Even Antonio Polito, another crowd puller, is alarming. He too makes it known in the columns of a Berlusconi newspaper, il Foglio, for which he is a stable contributor: “I’m sorry, but I really can’t see myself in the same parliamentary group as Di Pietro, even because with this alliance I infer that the PD will line up not just against the intercept law announced by the Centre Right, but also against its reform, that was wanted by his government in this legislature.” Basically it’s a great problem, for Cainano, that the PD won’t vote for the law that wants to send to prison for up to 5 years anyone who does an intercept and to fine up to 2 million Euro the journalists who publish intercepts. It is also a great problem that the PD distances itself from the Mastella reform, that is just happy to ruin the journalists by fining them up to 100 thousand Euro. According to Polito, to get consensus, the PD should follow the Mastella programme, that provoked so much enthusiasm in these two years in the Olive base, and that naturally overturned the Prodi government.
At this point we need to understand why whoever wants to have a government with Berlusconi or vote for his laws, and who already collaborates with his in-house publications, does not make himself a direct candidate with Berlusconi. Or even create a new party, the «Caldalito», or the «Polirola», and putting forward as candidates the latest victims of the intercepts from Fazio to Moggi, the neighbourhood sly lads and the signora Mastella – and using the slogan: “No bugs” or “Liberty Illegality Impunity” (asking for it to be loaned from Cetto Laqualunque, who has already registered the trade mark).
Not even the little Boselli is at peace: why Di Pietro and not him? The fact that Di Pietro has the votes and he hasn’t is evidently, completely secondary. The voters: these unknown. That the SDI has just taken on board Gianni De Michelis, convicted for corruption for the motorway backhanders in the Venice region and for illegal financing in the Enimont trial, has absolutely no influence. In fact, as is well known, the average voter, between a De Michelis, and a Di Pietro, would choose De Michelis with their eyes closed. What’s more, it’s been years that the Olive voters go out into the streets and squares to ask what has happened to De Michelis and what they are waiting for to bring him back into Parliament and into the government a little person who is so good. They can’t even sleep at night. Unfortunately they will stay disappointed this time as well. We hope the next one too.”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 15, 2008

Rubbish Journalism

Today something incredible has happened in politics. I have read in the newspapers (Corriere della Sera) “De Magistris out and Tonino accepted” Do you know what that means? That in the agreement that Italia dei Valori has made with the Democratic Party, and above all in the relationship between Di Pietro and Veltroni, in order for these two political formations to be able to unite their strengths to stop a Berlusconi government, for this reason we should not speak about justice and we should not reopen the issue of the independence of the magistracy and the rule of law within the institutions, and in order to give out this "subliminal" message, someone has given out the word that I had apparently been asked, before entering into this relationship of political dialogue with Veltroni, that I had been asked not to put forward the name of De Magistris as a candidate.
On this blog, and also on the Internet and even De Magistris has on the telephone and in writing denied that he wanted to be a candidate with us. In fact he has denied that he wanted to be a candidate, because he wants to continue to be a magistrate because he has ongoing investigations, but above all because he wants to defend his honour in relation to the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) because he must and because he wants to demonstrate that his only fault is to have done his duty, and this is the reason why they are trying to stop him.
It is true, a few weeks ago I asked De Magistris if he wanted to be a candidate and I said that the doors of Italia dei Valori are open to him. He thanked me, he felt honoured, but since the Superior Council of the Magistracy thinks that he has not behaved well, he first wants to show that he has been right and since he is carrying out investigations he wants to continue to be a magistrate. A party leader, wanting to create a list of people in whose values and civic commitment they believe, turns to those people. In recent days that is what I have been doing with many other people, in the world of the media, in the world of justice and in civil society. But with Veltroni, there was no mention of De Magistris or of the name of any other possible candidate. In fact we talked about and signed up to the ideals of a programme that he himself spoke about on Porta a Porta, in which we will not put forward as candidates anyone with criminal convictions, even those whose appeals have not been finished. If there is an agreement it is in fact to have transparency and to give a good example with the candidates.
To imagine that someone could have said that it was not possible to have De Magistris and that otherwise we could apparently not do this, is offending the truth and common sense. Above all we must ask why this news item has come out so false and non-existent that even De Magistris himself has denied it? Because we are starting an election campaign, and there is a fear, a bit across the board, that the new reality that sees Veltroni, Di Pietro’s party of the rule of law, civil society that is breathing a wish, a desire and hunger for the rule of law and transparency in information above all, is fearful that all this can come together and can get the consensus of the majority of citizens, stopping Berlusconi on one side and giving a message to the institutions of justice and the rule of law.
There’s an activity of disinformation, a first attempt to delegitimise, and that demonstrates that in the next election campaign, rather than about its contents, there is someone who wants it to go on by trying to discredit the opponent. For every delegitimisation, we will respond, not lamenting the fact but with what I am doing now, that is not to crying over it but with a programme proposal. Italia dei Valori., one reason to vote for us is precisely this: we will go to Parliament and we will be committed to a law that gives transparency and independence to information, because information is like the magistracy. If it is not independent it does not guarantee justice and democracy to anyone.
This is the commitment that we take on so as to avoid your being treated as subjects, to avoid your being disinformed and drawn into error.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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February 14, 2008

Political Disinformation

TRUE (AGI)
Catanzaro, 14 Feb. - Luigi De Magistris, sostituto procuratore della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Catanzaro {public prosecutor in Catanzaro} a prosecutor until a short while ago in charge of the enquiries called "Why Not" and "Toghe Lucane", has no intention of entering the arena of politics. The journalistic reconstructions in relation to the possibility of his coming into the ring with Italia dei Valori, in fact, have not pleased him and he has made this statement to AGI: “As regards the article published in today’s 'Corriere della Sera', that I’ve just read now, I will refer it to the judicial authorities as it uses my name inappropriately. I repeat for the umpteenth time that I want to be a magistrate and not go into politics.” He affirms: “some days ago, Dr Di Pietro asked me courteously if I would like to be a parliamentary candidate with Idv.” He adds: “With matching courtesy I told him no, saying that I want to continue to be a magistrate.”

FALSE (www.corriere.it)
The first has already been accepted: to have a common parliamentary group in the forthcoming legislature. The second as well. Veltroni has asked the leader of Italia dei Valori to be able to influence the choice of the list of candidates. And that’s how it happened that even before the meeting in the loft, the name of de Magistris, inserted in the list of possible candidates for Idv, was cancelled, with a big cross through it. Third condition: since the Democratic Party has to do a certain amount of renewal, Di Pietro has to promise not to put in his list the names of any parliamentarians that the Democratic Party gets rid of and there will be a lot of them. Finally, for example, the 80 year old Ciriaco De Mita will not be a candidate , but to get rid of him, they are waiting for the last possible moment, so as to avoid him passing lock, stock, and votes from Irpinia, to the Rosa Bianca. Thus the agreement has been signed. Of course, even the Minister of Infrastructure had his interests: the polls gave him in the range of 3.5 to 4.5 per cent. Basically, Di Pietro did not have the mathematical certainty to get through the necessary threshold for those who are not aligned. In his interview with the leader of Italia dei Valori, Veltroni was frank: “You know that a part of the Democratic Party did not want you, but since every decision has been delegated to myself, I have organised for us to make this agreement.” An agreement that does not please Arturo Parisi («it’s a mistake»), and Rosy Bindi, and many who are pro-Prodi, as well as a part of the former PPI, and also a character like senator Antonio Polito, who says: «I’m against it.». But that’s how it is.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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Within the institutions to change Italy

Straight away I want to talk to you about the current political situation in Italy and to bring you up to date.
As you know, Italia dei Valori is a political formation that has always been fighting for certain fundamental issues: the issue of the freedom of information, the issue of the fight against the conflict of interests, of the “ad personam” laws, the enormous problem relating to the active and forceful defence of the environment, because the future cannot depend on today’s criminality, and the battle that we have been waging in Parliament and that we want to carry on in the institutions, for the fight against the Caste, like making it impossible for those convicted of crime, to be a candidate. You all know that we managed to get important points of clarity in relation to certain abominable laws, like Berlusconi’s “Mancia” {hand outs} law
Today I met up with Veltroni and I told him: “Italia dei Valori has its own identity and a precise political programme. Can you see these 11 points? Is there anything bad in these 11 points? Is there anything that you really couldn’t support? Do you really think that the work of the magistracy should be criminalized? “
I received a commitment: we will go in the direction that we want, starting with a formal commitment not only to have a law by which convicted felons can no longer put themselves forward as candidates, but we ourselves will start, both in Italia dei Valori and in the Democratic Party, within our parties and without waiting for the law, to not put forward candidates who have been convicted. We ourselves will start and commit ourselves to a concrete way of resolving the TV problem, of those-who-control being appointed by those-to-be-controlled, and of the freedom of information.
This is the message that I want to send out. It is already a first victory that we have: to take the Democratic Party towards a programme that responds to the objectives of Italia dei Valori. Some will say that we could have done it alone, but we have to be within the institutions in order to change the institutions.

Soon the whole text will be published.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 13, 2008

11 points to change Italy

Italia dei Valori has prepared 11 points as a proposed programme to be put before the citizens.

In the next few days, anyone can comment on the points.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 12, 2008

Clean Elections

We’re going to vote in April with a law that prevents citizens from choosing their own representative in Parliament. We got this law from the Berlusconi government and we need to keep that in mind at the moment of voting. The current electoral law separates the parties from society. That’s a fact. Criticism of the Prodi government, that Italia dei Valori participated in, for not having immediately restored the previous electoral law that was born from a referendum, have foundation, but only in principle. In fact, they don’t take into account that we wouldn’t have got the majority in the Senate. A new law would never have got through. The party secretaries without a doubt, all have an advantage from the “piggish” Calderoli law. The deputies and senators, appointed at the desktop, are always faithful party functionaries.
Italia dei Valori cannot change this law just for itself, but it can do two things. The first is to choose the names of its candidates from civil society and to make the names public as soon as possible. The second, if it gets into government, is to operate to change the electoral law in the first 100 days. And give back a voice to the voters.
I want to remind you that Italia dei Valori, in the 2006 national elections did not put up candidates who had criminal convictions or ongoing trials.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 11, 2008

Let’s re-establish political ethics

I must speak to you about the political situation, otherwise we will continue to be at each other’s throats. Even the whole issue surrounding waste disposal, with all due respect for those that have done something about it, can only be resolved in one way, namely by changing the existing faces, anything else is simply useless. If we change the existing faces and put in some good people, people who are not in it for their own benefit, we can make the system work. If, instead, we insist on using business policies, or a policy of exchanging votes for jobs and positions, where everything passes through the hands of the same old people who simply change post, we will go nowhere.
Whether we like it or not, we must make the Country understand that we must change the people who have been in charge of the administration until now. The centre-left has failed during its legislature, but not because the Government was bad, as they are saying on television. This Government did all it could, and it did well, but it was faced with a Parliament that included certain people who were voted in by one side and that threatened, on a daily basis, to walk across to the other side, simply in order to get something they wanted, and landed up by selling their souls to the devil. That is the truth.
Neither Italy nor the Italians can survive with fifty different political parties. We are saying this as a political party that started of very small and that is working its fingers to the bone in order to become a large political party that will make the grade. We are not afraid because, if we must stay alive simply as a tool for holding others to ransom and help someone find their own little niche, then we will not go anywhere, because this is not what the Country needs. Do you honestly believe that if I were to go and ask for a position for myself, and perhaps a few others for two of my friends, I would be refused? They would grant us these positions immediately, however, clearly I don’t accept because we have built up a creature with which we want to become of age, to grow up with and we want to be a Governing Party.
You will no doubt have noticed that the very same people currently buzzing around Berlusconi, and around Veltroni before him, namely Mastella, Dini and De Gregorio, are simply genetically modified organisms that move from one side to the other, depending on expediency. And that’s the end of the story.
What am I trying to say by this? I wish to say that there is a certain political layout that is good for politics. And what do we do at this point? This is precisely the problem.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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A credible election platform

We of the “Italia dei Valori” party not only promise support, but have thrown our full support, together with the Democratic Party, behind important programme issues such as reducing the level of public debt, such as the battle against the Caste and then the elimination of privilege, so as to set a clear example of quality and ethics in politics.
We will ask the Democratic Party to join us on this path to bring back ethics into politics and to support us in desire to get thing done, in other words, to identify a number of fundamental issues that we have included in the 10 points that we will be discussing with them, in particular a “calling card” of credibility, of refusing to put up any criminal duly convicted in the courts as candidates, and of reducing the costs of politics.
In this regard, we of the “Italia dei Valori” party will be participating in an event that will begin on 25 April, which will be driven mainly by the public and the network, namely, a referendum to eliminate the public financing of party newspapers and to review the information legislation, even as regards the problems of the information Caste.
We will ask the Democratic Party to commit itself to reduce the level of taxation, to implement and proceed with that which has essentially been a concrete undertaking made both by us and the by Democratic Party, namely, to ensure that everyone pays their taxes so as to enable us to genuinely and objectively reduce the overall tax rates.
We believe that employment flexibility could be a good thing, but should not be used as an excuse for chronic temporary employment.
We will also exercise our great political will in protecting security, because we believe that the entire country is facing security problems due, inter alia, to the influx of illegal immigrants.
We want the programme to increase the level of protection of investors and consumers, precisely because we believe that we have already taken a particular path, beginning with Class Action, which has already been approved during the current legislature.
We believe in an independent judiciary, and we are aware that a number of important draft bills have already been submitted to Parliament, aimed at reducing the length of time taken for justice to take its course and to re-establish the credibility of the justice system as a whole. These draft bills were submitted by we members of the “Italia dei Valori” Party, as well as by other experts, such as D’Ambrosio of the Democratic Party.
We also believe that there is a need for a number of the political parties to disband, and so, the new electoral law will have to make provision for two things, namely, for the voter to be able to indicate who the individual candidates should be, and to specify the quorum that should be established so as to avoid having a myriad of tiny parties and splinter groupings able to exercise veto powers and cause dissent.
We believe that the parliamentary regulations should be reformulated immediately in order to prevent any parties not participating in the elections from getting into the houses via the back door, expecting to then be able to implement a policy of holding everyone to ransom, which was one of the main reasons for the recent collapse of this Government.
We of the “Italia dei Valori” Party wish to reiterate that the issue of the conflict of interests should be addressed once and for all, especially following the much-feared return of Berlusconi, something that we sincerely hope will not occur, so as to ensure that our Country’s credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world is restored.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 08, 2008

Towards the elections

I’m publishing an interview I gave to RaiNews24, on Thursday 7 February, after the executive committee meeting of Italia dei Valori, in which we decided on our position for the elections in April.

Enzo Cappucci: Minister Di Pietro, the election campaign has started, so I can ask you a provocative question. Well Minister, are you getting ready to be a candidate for the position of President of the Council?
Antonio Di Pietro: Above all I hope that it is possible to find a shared programme and a renewal of the management class with that reforming party that Walter Veltroni wants to create. Up until now, he has shown himself to be courageous. We are courageous by definition. We are. And Italia dei Valori will present itself at the next elections with its own symbol, with its own candidates, a young team to renew politics starting with the faces, but within a project because we want to govern the country in a transparent way. And we want to do that with the professionalism that Walter Veltroni will be able to put together. For this reason, before asking electors to just vote for Italia dei Valori willy nilly, we want to check whether the Democratic Party is willing to give itself the responsibility with us to offer an alternative to the 15 years of tired faces that there are in the Centre Right, always the same, made up of politics that is full of conflicts of interests, of private interests, of “ad personam” laws. So basically that’s what’s new.

Enzo Cappucci: OK. When you make a declaration, in a way, you have already an idea how the other will respond. How do you think the Democratic Party will respond?
Antonio Di Pietro: No I don’t know. There has never been a show of intention on this issue. In the meeting of Italia dei Valori’s executive committee we decided to be present at the next elections with a programme that we have already signed up to, made up of 10 points that are in defence of the most vulnerable classes, but also in defence of the rule of law and of the functioning of the system, starting with a free market, in a market that respects the laws, starting with jobs that are flexible but not precarious.
In this way we are putting forward to Veltroni, in a transparent way, a project to win the elections, but above all for good government. We want to be judged for what we have done, for what we are, not because we have been sent home by one, two, three floor crossers, some for personal and judicial interests, others to gain a place in the sun.

Enzo Cappucci: Minister, let’s do some election forecasting. Let’s say that the Centre Left gets through all the polls that today sees it as a loser. How can it one day get to the 51% it needs to get to govern the country in the end?
Antonio Di Pietro: Look, the Centre Left that we are used to seeing in the last 15 years, no longer exists. The extreme Left, maximalist, the No-global one, the one of counterpositions, of vetoes, is off on its own journey, with its hammer and sickle. I respect that. Some of the battles it takes on are also very just, however, if ideologically, structurally, you are created to be in opposition, you can’t be in government in the day and in opposition in the night, as has happened in this coalition that has now gone by. In this way, the Centre Left no longer exists.
What exists is a reforming force that right now can be represented by the Democratic Party, but also by Italia dei Valori, and in this way, we want to play our cards basing ourselves on credibility, and on the image that we present.
Do you know how many people I have seen, heard and read about that entered as Popes in a conclave and yet came out as Cardinals? So to cardinal Berlusconi: Forewarned is forearmed..

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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February 06, 2008

So as not to forget those who die at work

Each day I will give information about those who die at work. An unofficial bulletin, to raise the awareness of the general public about one of the most serious problems of our country. Data will be supplied by Marco Bazzoni, a workman and a safety inspector.
”I’m called Marco Bazzoni. I’m 33 years old and I am a labourer in a metal engineering firm in the province of Florence.
Antonio Di Pietro’s blog wants to start an initiative to raise awareness among the citizens about the topic of health and safety in workplaces, by publishing news about the accidents that there are unfortunately every day.
Unfortunately this news goes unheeded in the national press.
Since the beginning of 2008 already 90 people have died at work, however news about each one has not been published. There are laws to avoid this. We need to make sure they are respected. I am talking to all those who work, who are in danger at work because of the failure to implement the minimum safety regulations. The denunciations have to come from us. We mustn’t allow anyone to come and ask for us to pay the price of giving up our lives, in exchange for earning our bread. “
Marco Bazzoni

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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February 05, 2008

The fear of a young Pozzuoli man

I’ve received a letter from a young man from Pozzuoli and I’m publishing it here.
"Ciao Antonio.
I’m afraid
At night I don’t manage to sleep because I see my beloved city dying bit by bit, just like the ItalianRepublic that no longer seems to be so democratic. Well, my city is Pozzuoli, well known since ancient times as a city of commerce and cultural exchange and because of its natural uniqueness also a city for spending holidays for the well to do senators at the time of the Roman Republic. My dreams are disturbed both by the refuse emergency that has lasted for years, as well as the slow and diabolic devastation of our territory. Over the years, our grandparents, who survived a devastating war, have accepted with an enthusiasm that is like that of a child on the night before the Epiphany, the industrialization of our beloved city without seeing into the future of the terrible consequences it has concealed. To cite some effects, there have been cases of death form asbestos! Today we find ourselves looking at drainage plans for our territory that are going very slowly and we don’t understand why! But even on a small scale we can see that nothing is working, roads are in a bad state, even just by the aeronautical academy there’s a sign up telling of the danger to any adventurer who wants to know this fantastic city.
Many other problems beset this city that one day will be formally declared unique in the world for its history and its natural phenomena (http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2030/).
There’s an expression that is a good description of the political and social situation of Pozzuoli, as it is perhaps for the rest of Italy: “pearls to the pigs”
Right now, the town is run by a commissioner because of infiltration by the Cammorra. The political class seems to be unchanged and meanwhile with them we are getting ready for local elections. I don’t know who else to turn to except to someone like you who is always talking about your hunger for justice. I have not voted for you and I have never done so, but perhaps you are the only person who right now can understand my existential discomfort. By now I no longer have trust in the institutions. I am really afraid of everything that is happening in Italy, yes in Italy, because I believe that the problems that are emerging in Naples and in the South are not just local but belong to the whole of Italy. At times, when I’m watching TV, it seems that this country is anything but a united country. Perhaps this is the main problem of the country; we don’t have a national identity.
Every day I cry for my future and for the future of my city. I’m thinking of going away from Italy because I’m afraid. I don’t feel protected by the institutions. And just to tell you one thing, we have collected signatures for a petition to find out whether or not the antennae that Trenitalia has installed in the environment of the Metro Line 2, are harmful even though they are close to habitation. We have not had any response.
Now I’ll stop chattering and bombarding you with these problems of mine. I’ll try to go and sleep. Perhaps by managing to dream that all this is only a nightmare.
Greetings
Walter"

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Society
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February 04, 2008

End the abusive occupation of the frequencies

First reflection: I would have preferred to be judged for this experience of being a Minister for what I have done, what I have been able to do, or not been able to do, or not capable of doing, for me as a person, for my party, Italia dei Valori that I have represented inside the institutions, and yet I get to go home because a few characters in search of an author decided to swap from one coalition to another thus giving rise to a motion of “no confidence” in the government for personal reasons. Dini because he no longer has a position, Mastella because he has problems with the magistracy of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, that’s him and his family, and therefore he’s not happy. Is it really possible that Italian politics has to be taken hostage by these characters?
Next time, for reasons that include these, Italia dei Valori, will be standing on its own account at the next elections, because there’s the need for a generational exchange of the political class. If the faces aren’t changed there’s nothing that can be done. These are changing their outer clothes, right, left and they are always there. Just watch and you’ll see Mastella as a Minister in a Berlusconi government.
I wanted to present this first thought because yesterday at the Council of Ministers there was not that much talking, there was a bit of a swan song, and I want to talk to you about two important things that happened just yesterday, that I tried to talk about in the Council of Ministers: the decision of the European Court of Justice in relation to the Europa7 affair and the decision of Agcom for the Annozero affair.
There’s a problem with the freedom of information in our State. There’s a problem of information that is poorly. Do you know that the European Court of Justice has made a decision against the Italian State? Because for at least 20 years signor Di Stefano, who has a private TV channel called Europa7, that won a tender competition, cannot operate the TV channel because the frequencies have been snatched by Berlusconi for Rete4. Formally, everything is OK. Each time, he got a law passed so he can say that everything is OK. Already at one time, the Italian magistrates had said that it was not right what had been done, and Craxi did a special government decree, and then Gasparri did a law, during the Berlusconi government, that acted as a cover.
Now, the European Court of Justice has said that the Italian law in relation to information is illicit law on a European level, that is does not assure pluralism, and that it conditions the democratic life of the country. If only someone had talked about it. All the newspapers and all the Italian media have said is that it is only a point, that it has no value, that anyway it doesn’t change anything. What’s that? When the verdicts are convenient they change something, when they are inconvenient they change nothing.
The very idea that the actual verdicts of the European Court of Justice are not even taken into consideration by our political class, makes it necessary to be present in the institutions to try to change the political class, otherwise information will never change it.

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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February 03, 2008

The independence of Agcom

In Europe, they penalise us because we are not being transparent and objective enough in terms of providing information, and for failure to comply with the rules of proper reporting. Just look at what actually happens in Italy: a certain programme, called Annozero, reported certain events involving the Governor of Sicily, Cuffaro, who has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for having favoured certain members of the mafia, a preliminary sentence for which the law envisages a suspension, whereas in reality he was forced to resign from his post.
It is an extremely serious matter when a regional premier is found guilty of favouring the mafia, and a story that someone must tell. More or less everyone reported on the matter, but all simply to show the level of dignity with which he was offering cannoli around after being sentenced, except for Annozero, which instead told the full story about the man himself. Let the sky fall down on their heads, however, let not the sky fall on Cuffaro because of what he did, but rather on the programme that reported the story.
Indeed, immediately after the report, charges were laid with the public service control body, called the “Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni” (Agicom). 24-Hours later Agcom had already punished Santoro and the “Annozero” programme, stating that they had displayed a lack of objectivity and should remedy the damage caused. What damage would that be? It begs the question: “but who is this great communication authority anyway? Who are the people behind it?”

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Information
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February 01, 2008

A new Parliament, but clean

I hope that we can have elections as soon as possible and that the elections can contribute to a generational exchange of the political class. Italia dei Valori will say that if the coalition that has to be formed must get two or three extra senators to just get an occasional numeric majority to manage to survive, then we’re not going there.
If reforms really have to be made, there must be a sharing with the Centre Right and the Centre Left or of some parties from the Centre Right and the Centre Left not of some character in search of an author who moves from one side to the other.

We of Italia dei Valori will place a single condition for the electoral law.
It must include at least one of the three conditions contained in the proposed popular law put forward by Grillo: those who have been convicted and sentenced cannot be candidates, certified criminals can no longer be candidates.
If he who has been asked to form an interim government does not commit to doing this electoral law, he will not have our support.


Read also:
La condanna della Corte di giustizia europea (www.italiadeivalori.it)

Postato da Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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