23 August 2010

They want to take us for a ride

LA REPUBBLICA: Is it constitutional the alliance proposed by Dario Franceschini?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «It’s a trick that Fini and Casini are having a go at to the detriment of the reformist coalition. Those “happy-go-lucky” ones of the PD don’t realise.»

LA REPUBBLICA: Would IDV not be available for such an alliance?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «IDV is ready to make an alliance with the devil as long as it can get rid of Berlusconi. It’s a shame that neither Casini nor Fini wants a coalition of the Centre Left. Each has his own objective: Fini wants to create a new coalition of the Centre Right and Casini wants an “interdiction”. The longer they have available to them, the more they will be a problem. At that point, in a 3-cornered fight, the Centre Left, risks coming in last.»

LA REPUBBLICA: But the PD is convinced that in order to win, the votes of the Centre people are absolutely essential.
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «To have a marriage, you need two people and anyway there’s a woman of the First Republic who has carried on the oldest profession in the world and she wants to continue to do so with autonomy.»

LA REPUBBLICA: Let’s unpack the metaphor.
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «Already at the last elections, Casini went ahead on his own and he’ll still do that. They want to create another group. The UDC cannot go back to Berlusconi because of the vetoes from Bossi. Now it’s Berlusconi that no longer wants Fini. They will do a moderate alliance that will take votes away from the Centre Right. And it’ll finish up like it did in Apulia.»

LA REPUBBLICA: That is?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «There at the regional elections the Centre Right was divided and Vendola won.»

LA REPUBBLICA: Even for you, the Centre Left has the chance to beat Berlusconi.
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «Yes. Us, the PD, Vendola and the other bits of the Left that are outside parliament.»

LA REPUBBLICA: And if the third grouping were to steal votes from you as well?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «Theirs are structured votes: those are people who until yesterday were voting for Fini. You can’t ask them to vote for Vendola. To chase after the chimera-Casini is absolute blindness. The more we think about technical governments, the more this lot will have time to swindle us.»

LA REPUBBLICA: Berlusconi wants a technical government.
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «He wants to go and vote because he’s not daft. He knows that Fini needs at least a year to get his party organised throughout the land. And thus he wants to do like Herod did. »

LA REPUBBLICA: Berlusconi like Herod?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «He wants to murder the baby, that is Fini’s party while it’s still in its cradle.»

LA REPUBBLICA: And what will the Opposition do?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «It would be better today to get around a table to decide on a programme and on leadership. »

LA REPUBBLICA: With the Primaries?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «We are not against Primaries but we are also willing to think about secondary choices, to be agreed with the parties.»

LA REPUBBLICA: If that were the case, would you be a candidate?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «IDV will certainly be there: we have the professionalism, to participate or to support someone. It’s just it seems to me that the PD doesn’t want to have these Primaries.»

LA REPUBBLICA: And if on the other hand it were possible to put together a government to do an electoral law?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «If someone were to offer me a shuttle to go to the moon, I’d go willingly. But there are not the required numbers to have a different electoral law.»

LA REPUBBLICA: However, you would change it?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «Certainly, if it were up to us, we would do majority electoral colleges of coalition. Even the “mattarellum” {law proposed by Mattarella} is OK. You know someone else is thinking about a system like the Germans, with thresholds, perhaps with 4%. We are willing to discuss things, but first we want to see the proposal.»

LA REPUBBLICA: Will there be voting in December?
ANTONIO DI PIETRO: «In September, the Fini group will have the confidence vote and the to-ing and fro-ing will go ahead for as long as Berlusconi wants it to. Until he decides it’s time for elections.»

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22 August 2010

Some nagging doubts regarding Schifani

Here is one of my recent interviews, as published in yesterday’s edition of "Il Fatto Quotidiano".

The flea and the elephant: that’s how things always seem to work here in Italy. Antonio Di Pietro stands at the starting line for the resumption of the great political comeback after the very short summer holidays and he wants to see who is going to be the first individual to try and be a smart-alec. That’s because today the Pdl is having its council of war, the litmus test to find out whether or not the majority is going to hold up, and this while the Finigate controversy continues to grow.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: Is the damn moral issue once again going to dictate the timing of Italian politics?
Antonio Di Pietro: Let me explain. The moral issue is old news. For many years now, the politicians have promised to behave themselves, but then we all know what happens here in Italy. And that’s when the “omertà” starts, the censorship of the major newspapers and that irrepressible desire to only strike when and where it suits them.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: But you would like to see Vendola in there?
Antonio Di Pietro: It all depends on the proposed programmes for government. Who knows, I even think that Chiamparino is a nice guy but if he happens to favour the privatisation of our water resources, then there’s no way that he would be okay.

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20 August 2010

A coalition fit to govern

Here is one of my recent interviews with the "Gli Altri" weekly.

Antonio Di Pietro: We want elections as soon as possible and that’s what we’re working towards. We also want a new electoral law and another law to ensure plurality in the media, but we have serious doubts as to whether this would be technically possible.

Gli Altri: And what if this improbable majority were to become a reality?
Antonio Di Pietro: In that case, the State President is only person that would be able to ensure that it doesn’t become yet another example of the three-card trick, in other words that we don’t land up with a government that claims to only intend to remain in power for as long as is strictly necessary, and then instead clings onto power for years. If such a majority were to be possible, he would have to grant it a very, very precise mandate.

Gli Altri: But just as the establishment of such a majority is highly unlikely, there is instead a very strong likelihood of fresh elections, either now or in the spring. However, it is not yet very clear what kind of coalition will be standing against Berlusconi…
Antonio Di Pietro: The important thing is that any such coalition must be established for the sole purpose of governing the Country. By definition, we cannot go into any election with the sole objective of defeating Berlusconi.

Gli Altri: All the more reason to get some clarity regarding who is to be party to any such coalition …
Antonio Di Pietro: Any such coalition cannot include both fish and fowl, because it would not last long in any event. It is useless to run after Fini. He would never form a coalition with the Democratic Party in any event because then not even his own mother would vote for him. The IdV’s position is patently clear, namely, we are in favour of a bipartisan system firmly rooted within the centre-left. I firmly believe that the basic foundation of the coalition must be constituted by the Democratic Party and the IdV, while remaining entirely open to any other formations that may want to join. However, this must be within the limits of the bipartisan system and an agreed programme for governing.

Gli Altri: A coalition that could be open to the Udc as well?
Antonio Di Pietro: It would be totally useless for us to form an alliance with the Udc, whose programme is diametrically opposed to ours when it comes to major issues such as justice, nuclear power and the privatisation of water resources. After all, we have called for a referendum to be held on the privatisation of water resources. So what do we do? Do we go into the elections together and then, immediately afterwards, we split up because of the referendum? I believe that, irrespective of whether the election takes place with the current electoral law still in place or hopefully with a new one, the UDC will do precisely what they have done until now, namely, they will go it alone. Also in order to ensure more posts for themselves.

Gli Altri: The objection to be expected, however, is that without the UDC votes it will be impossible to beat Berlusconi…
Antonio Di Pietro: But that is absolutely untrue. That party is going to take votes away from the centre-right. If you don’t try to disarm them now, then when are you going to do so? If not now, then when, I ask you?

Gli Altri: Must the coalition’s candidate be selected via primary elections, or not?
Antonio Di Pietro: We are open to either option. If that’s what the coalition needs because it is bladed and cannot agree on which candidate to field, then they must hold their primary election. If, instead, the coalition is able to identify an individual with the ability to draw together all of the distinctive characters within the centre-left, then all the better. The important thing is that if a primary election is indeed held, then it mustn’t be hypocritical. I wouldn’t want to see primary elections being held simply because no one knows which way to go, in other words as the lesser of two evils, rather than because a choice has to be made between two excellent candidates. As we all know only too well, the lesser of two evils seldom lasts for a more than a week. Furthermore, It seems to me that it would be better not have a candidate emerge that only represents one of the coalition’s factions.

Gli Altri: To whom are you referring exactly?
Antonio Di Pietro: No one in particular. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the chosen candidate is Antonio Di Pietro. However, there is no way that I could represent National unity because, for the past fifteen years, I have played devil’s advocate and have been at the forefront of the battle against berlusconian policies. If I were ever to head up a Government, everyone’s top priority would be to block me at every turn and thereby prevent me from governing effectively. My name could never be a real point of reference for the majority of the population.

Gli Altri: Is this argument not perhaps equally true of Nichi Vendola?
Antonio Di Pietro: I have no personal objections whatsoever to Nichi Vendola. I do however believe that it is important to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground. I believe that if Di Pietro were to stand as a candidate within a team headed up by a leader with a greater ability to draw people together, we would probably stand a better chance of winning. And if I am prepared to say this about myself, then I can also say that the same is true of Vendola. In my opinion, he is the incarnation of a minority section of the left wing in this Country. After all, where are all the communists now? Spread all over Italy?”

Gli Altri: If I may say so, you two are actually very much alike …
Antonio Di Pietro: Absolutely not! Vendola also represents certain sections of the centre-left, and even some of the moderates. If they decide to hold a primary election, then so be it. In our opinion, whoever was to win the potential primary election, good luck to him, and that includes Vendola. However, I wouldn’t want Vendola’s candidature to be the result of apathy or the total absence of the Democratic Party, as occurred with Bonino’s nomination for the Regional elections in Lazio.

Gli Altri: If they decide to hold a primary election, would the IdV field its own candidate? And, if so, would that be you?
Antonio Di Pietro: We are not excluding our party’s participation in any potential primary election, although we don’t believe that such an election is necessary. In any event, should this indeed occur, I would not be the party candidate. I’m not just some or other sort of spoiled brat who jumps up and down, saying “Me too! Me too!” whenever someone else is nominated.

Gli Altri: And what about De Magistris then?
Antonio Di Pietro: He is but one of a number of possible candidates. I don’t believe that he needs to stand back for anyone, least of all me or Nichi Vendola for that matter. He would make an excellent candidate for any genuine, hard fought primary election. As would be our group leader in the Chamber, namely Massimo Donadi, and Leoluca Orlando. These guys are our three options. The only thing that won’t happen is that two different IdV candidates get nominated.

Gli Altri: The centre-left is preparing for possible elections, yet it appears that certain major issues, such as the economic crisis, the FIAT battle are being totally ignored …
Antonio Di Pietro: That is the real problem, which is being dimmed by the internal power struggles and the dossier policies, and that is filling the front pages of our newspapers while emptying the bellies of Italian families. For some time now, we of the IdV have been focusing all our attention on the issue of employment and, as from September, this is going to be our leit-motiv, even during the election campaign. This because by now even the rocks know where we stand on the issue of legality, so now we need to find a way to highlight the issues of the working-class, which would otherwise be nonexistent given the current quality of representation in Parliament. On this front, in Parliament, the Idv is the only party currently making its voice heard.

Gli Altri: As regards the issue of the dossiers, does the IdV not also believe that the process of reducing politics to a case of who has the hottest dossiers has gone way too far?
Antonio Di Pietro : I was one of the first individuals to experience the effects of dossier politics practiced by the very same people that are still using those policies even now. We have always said that politicians should be open to any kind of investigation, however, it is absolutely unjustifiable for these dossiers to be used not for the purpose of revealing something that has come to light, but merely to discredit the individual. I firmly believe that politicians should indeed be open to investigation. What I object to is this practice of keeping the dossiers locked up in a drawer and only then using them as necessary for blackmail purposes.

Gli Altri: Fini has undoubtedly been a target of these dossier politics, but even his supporters have threatened to use of dossiers in the past ….
Antonio Di Pietro : In my opinion, both Fini and his supporters have in fact made a major blunder, and I speak from experience, having previously found myself in a very similar situation. If you’re called upon to provide an explanation, you simply have to provide that explanation within 24 hours, or better still, within 24 minutes. If Fini had immediately explained what happened, it may well have shaken his relationship with his brother-in-law, but there would have been no legal repercussions whatsoever. He was given some lousy advice and he then defended himself very badly, above all when he lowered himself to their level and began arguing about dossier politics. If someone has accused you of carrying out a robbery, it’s no use saying that he also committed one. The fact that two robberies may have been committed doesn’t make either robbery right and the practice of polling out your own dossier to counteract your accuser’s dossier only serves to discredit all politicians equally.

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19 August 2010

Government: face up to it and defeat it

TG3: Honourable Di Pietro, thank you for coming in spite of your accident. You have broken your ankle like President Fini.
Antonio Di Pietro: Well you see, the issue is not whether I and Fini have broken our ankles but that people are trying to break our legs. I don’t know about him, but with me they won’t succeed because I’m well set on the earth and I have nothing broken. And in fact I will continue to create havoc on the issue of morality as long as I am alive.

TG3: Thinking about Fini, do you think that the President of the Lower House should resign given the latest attacks?
Antonio Di Pietro: I think that Fini should do an in-depth clarification of the affair. He has already done so much; let him go the extra mile. Now he has to explain what happened in the end: who bought this home and how much he paid. It’s clear that if this is not done, straight away, the folk doing dossiers will walk all over us and will do what they want with us. This is why I say that Berlusconi and his folk are doing a really nasty operation: they are shifting the attention on to Fini so that the Italians don’t talk about the damage done in matters of economics, of employment, of work, of defence of the most vulnerable in society, the protection of the environment: they have reduced the country to ruins. We of Italia dei Valori want to send home the Berlusconi government because the sooner we get rid of his P2-ist model the better it is for everyone.

TG3: The idea of elections is still possible. You have said many times that you are not afraid, but isn’t there the risk that Berlusconi will win one more time?
Antonio Di Pietro: Well then since Berlusconi is in government and if we go to elections there’s the risk that he will win again, we may as well concede his victory straight away? I say that there’s only one way to beat the opponent: to face up to him, to defeat him. I would like to do that with a new electoral law and with a law on pluralism of information. Just as I would like to have “the moon in the well”. But I don’t believe that in this legislature, with these people that are led by him, that all this is possible. And so I want to face up to the President of the Council and his P2-ist model of government that makes laws for his own purposes, so as to stop him from doing that any more. And I am inviting everyone who is in Opposition to unite with us in a common liberation front because the sooner we are liberated from him, the better it is.

TG3: What’s your position on the idea of a “guarantee” government?
Antonio Di Pietro: Technical governments are a mask. Governments are always political. If you can truly do a new electoral law, and a law on pluralism, I’ll support that, but I don’t believe in these cunning ones of the First Republic, the ones who want a Technical government and say that they will stay for 30 seconds and then stay for 30 years. So, if it has to be done, the Head of State has to accept the responsibility of a clear mandate: no more than 3 months and nothing else apart from those two laws. Because on one thing, I believe we all need to be convinced: the Constitution guarantees power to the people. And given that this Majority, in matters of the economy, work, and the future of our offspring, has failed, we have to call back the people to vote and to decide what they want, not what the people in secret rooms want, sharing out “a place for me, two for you”: it must be the people who decide.

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18 August 2010

No B-Day 2: we will be there

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It’s possible to criticise Napolitano

Antonio Di Pietro: In a democracy it’s possible to express criticism in relation to anyone; otherwise it wouldn’t be a democracy. But every criticism must have its limit, out of respect for the dignity of the people and the institutional functions that they have to carry out. This is the reason why the criticisms made on Sunday against the Head of State are not criticisms but blackmailing insults that have to be rejected. And this is to be done not only in defence of the current Head of State but also to protect the very position that he holds.

Affaritaliani.it: Antonio Di Pietro, in the past you have not been tender with the President of the Republic, you are choosing "Affaritaliani.it" to comment on the clash between the Quirinale {residence of the President of the Republic} and the PDL after Bianconi’s decisive attack.
Antonio Di Pietro: Putting to one side the criticisms and the verbal invectives, we need to reflect on the legitimacy and the advisability that as a result of the political crisis of a Majority and its government it’s necessary to go towards elections or whether it’s necessary to find another route within Parliament.

Affaritaliani.it: What’s your stand?
Antonio Di Pietro: On a formal and constitutional level there’s no doubt that, as we are in a parliamentary democracy, it is not only legitimate but it is also a duty for the Head of State to weigh up whether there is a different Majority within Parliament, different from the one elected by the people. This on a level that is formal and legitimate. On the level that is substantial and expedient, we believe that the will of the people has always to be respected and that the intrinsic spirit of the Constitution is exactly that. If there is the breakup of the Majority, there’s a return to voting as soon as possible and that’s why we of Italia dei Valori are highlighting the position of those who for reasons of feasibility and the substance of things are asking that with a government in which there is no confidence, we go to elections.

Affaritaliani.it: However ….
Antonio Di Pietro: A third problem has emerged. If, in order to move towards elections there’s the need, given that the current electoral law provokes an emptying out of the Constitution in that the voter does not choose who goes to Parliament, that it’s possible to modify the regulations. We would be really happy to be able to participate in the new round of elections with a more transparent law and with new regulations that guarantee more pluralism of information. But we are also sufficiently astute to understand that this is the route to get “returning by the window what has to leave by the door” and that is a government in which there is no confidence and a Majority that doesn’t exist. And thus there will be the usual “smart Alecs” of the First Republic who with this pious excuse will stay in government for three years without the consent of the electorate. For this reason, if the idea should prevail of a technical-institutional government to do these two laws (on elections and on information), to give our consent there would have to be two guarantees, both given by the Head of State. In practice let Napolitano give this mandate only with a time limit of three months, and in terms of competency: only to do these two laws. Otherwise we must go towards elections as soon as possible.

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16 August 2010

The government made of chocolate

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14 August 2010

Napolitano: a justified call to order

He is the referee and he simply cannot act as a player because otherwise he could influence the entire game. In terms of merit, however, I have to agree with his comments and I sincerely hope that the Country’s real emergencies will indeed be addressed without delay. What I am referring to here is employment, economic recovery and the need for the electoral law to be amended before the Country once again returns to the polling booths. It must also be highlighted that it is the State President’s duty to assess whether there is an alternative majority to the one that is currently sustaining the Berlusconi government.

We of the Italia dei Valori party wish to reiterate that the will of the people cannot simply be cast aside and if the government in power no longer has a sufficient majority to sustain it, then we must return to the polling booths as soon as possible because there is no other way to go without casting aside the will of the people. The rules are cast in stone in our Constitution, which makes no provision whatsoever for shortcuts. In fact, our willingness to agree to the establishment of a technical government is entirely dependent on such a government being a genuine technical executive with a specific mandate not exceeding three months and with clearly specified powers, namely to draft a new election law and another law that re-establishes the pluralism of the information system.

Obviously it would not be enough for the current governing majority to give such assurances, so it remains up to the State President to issue a precise, well-defined and inescapable mandate regarding these two objectives.

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12 August 2010

This is not Toyland

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It’s time to turn over a new leaf

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10 August 2010

Fini: delayed explanations

Antonio Di Pietro: «Fini’s explanations are late in coming and even insufficient. If he had said the same things on the first day he would have avoided a bad image and a month of being pilloried by the media. At that time the explanations would have perhaps been sufficient but today they certainly can’t be enough ...»

Il Resto del Carlino: What is it that doesn’t convince you honourable Di Pietro?
Antonio Di Pietro: «I believe in his good faith. I believe that the reconstruction is plausible, but for this very reason it is necessary for Fini to come full circle: it is unthinkable that even today he is still saying that he doesn’t know who is the very Italian owner of that shell corporation that bought the property.»

Il Resto del Carlino: So according to you, Fini knew to whom the building was sold?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Even if he didn’t know, and let’s even admit, even if he was taken for a ride, and it can happen, once the affair landed up in the newspapers and Berlusconi had used it to attack him, it’s certain that Fini will have called the companion and the brother-in-law and insisted on knowing straight away who was behind that company. He has to tell us as well ….»

Il Resto del Carlino: Why do you affirm that the owner is “italianissimo”?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Because we weren’t born yesterday. And then was it not he himself that said that the offshore company was presented to him by Tulliani? And let’s go full circle and then we will be able to evaluate his behaviour.»

Il Resto del Carlino: According to you, is it possible to have a hypothesis of criminal responsibilities?
Antonio Di Pietro: «As a former public prosecutor I would say that from a criminal point of view, there’s nothing. Certainly in the hypothesis there’s the issue of evaluating if what is in the contract is the price that was effectively paid by the investment company, because if a higher price has actually been received and that was not then shown in the AN accounts, there could then be the hypothesis of illegal financing.»

Il Resto del Carlino: There’s still the political problem. To what extent will the Majority hold up?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Not much, that’s clear. And let the PD forget the idea of “technical governments” and improbable alliances. It would be strategic blindness. If they even established a “technical government” that were to take forward the legislature, we would just get the result of having a bit of breathing space to the epigones of the White Whale of the First Republic and be making a gift of a new victory to Berlusconi. It’s the premise that is wrong. Fini is not a potential ally. Fini by definition could not ally himself with the Left. He just wants to wear down Berlusconi, to create a crisis for his leadership so as to take his position. He won’t allow him to do that and, given that the numbers are not there, he’ll move towards elections. And instead of messing around, we should catch the inherent contradictions of the Right and present ourselves before the voters.»

Il Resto del Carlino: Even with this electoral law?
Antonio Di Pietro: «I would really like to go to the elections with a different electoral law and with a law that guarantees the plurality of information. But Berlusconi will never allow that. And so rather than dreaming the impossible, I’m choosing to fight.»

Il Resto del Carlino: Is there space for a new alliance between yourselves and the PD?
Antonio Di Pietro: «As long as they make a choice. We are against the big jumbles, the love of groups. We are alternatives to the sons of the White Whale. They need to come to terms with that. If it’s like that, then at the moment of the elections, agreements can be found …..»

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9 August 2010

L'Aquila between suffering and money

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7 August 2010

A technical Government? Bersani must be dreaming!

Antonio Di Pietro: Bersani? He is dreaming and believes that any kind of National Liberation Committee can be set up within Parliament. Realistically, that will simply never happen. They may say that this is what they want to do, but all these outsiders really want is to get into government, not to re-write the electoral law as a prelude to fresh elections. He’s just wasting his time clutching at straws.
I say let’s go to the polls immediately with a strong pact in place between the Democratic Party, the IdV, Vendola and all the various movements.

La Repubblica: But isn’t it enough that the leader of the Democratic Party has now said precisely what you have said many times in the past, namely that “we have to get rid of Berlusconi”?

Antonio Di Pietro: Certainly there can be no doubt that we have to overcome Berlusconi’s P2-ist mistake. This is a fact, so much so in fact that he no longer enjoys an outright majority and, given the continuous succession of scandals and “ad personam” laws, the voters are quickly becoming fed-up with his behaviour. But what do we have to do in order to rid ourselves of this man? Some people, such as we and numerous others, are saying that we must have fresh elections as soon as possible. Then there are others who would prefer to see a technical government installed first, in order to introduce a number of reforms regarding the electoral law and to ensure the plurality of the media.

La Repubblica: And what would you like to see?

Antonio Di Pietro: As things stand at present, the conditions are not right for a majority that could get any such laws passed. However, the risk is that if we continue to leave Berlusconi in his current post, he could just recover from the current loss of credibility. He has already proven that he has nine lives and is always able to recover, even from the hardest knocks.

La Repubblica: But a Government with the third pole?

Antonio Di Pietro: I simply don’t trust this great central grouping because it is not driven by any noble desire to pass new laws, but rather by the possibility of coming to power, the possibility of getting itself settled in, just as they did in the First Republic. That would be like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

La Repubblica: Is this a definite “No” then?

Antonio Di Pietro: I am not prepared to entrust my future to a blackmailing third pole, one that expects to govern without Parliament’s consent. I remain in favour of the bipolar system. Just like I would like to visit the moon and would depart immediately if there was a shuttle going there, equally I would like to see a new electoral law and another regarding the media, and I am prepared to contribute, however, I also like to keep my feet firmly planted on earth because I wouldn’t want to be waiting to spot the moon’s reflection in the well while these guys are carrying off the well itself.

La Repubblica: Do you want to vote immediately?

Antonio Di Pietro: Yes, I’m getting ready to vote as soon as possible because Berlusconi won’t want to allow Fini to establish an alternative pole. I’m sure we will have elections in the spring.

La Repubblica: But that’s precisely what Bersani is thinking about...

Antonio Di Pietro: The problem with the Democratic Party is that they want to go into the elections with a united group that includes everyone, from former communists through to former fascists, from Fini through to Vendola. However, the voters would kick us where it hurts.

La Repubblica: An option with no hope of success?

Antonio Di Pietro: It’s the politician’s way of addressing the problem without any hope of success and all it would succeed in doing would be to give this third pole more ammunition with which to object and blackmail. The Democratic Party must be consistent and stay on one side of the fence, in other words, remain bipolar and stay within the centre-left. They need to decide once and for all what they want to do.

La Repubblica: And what about you?

Antonio Di Pietro: We want to remain within the centre-left and establish a coalition. The problem is not what the Democratic party wants to do, but rather what we want to do about the Democratic Party. Do they want to go with Fini? Well, then we’ll tell the voters that we are here to represent the interests of the centre-left, in which case any vote for the Democratic Party will be a vote sold to the enemy.

La Repubblica: But who is in this coalition?

Antonio Di Pietro: Not Fini, not Casini and not the third pole.

La Repubblica: What about Rutelli?

Antonio Di Pietro: He’s already out of the picture. Only a masochist would attempt to put together a government from a splinter group of Democratic Party members that have already gone across to the other side. Furthermore, neither Fini nor Casini would ever do a deal with the left wing. Those guys would simply grab our votes, use them to win the elections and then stay in power for the next 50 years.

La Repubblica: Is Bersani adopting the wrong strategy?

Antonio Di Pietro: Not him so much, but the Democratic Party, which is a rather complex group incorporating a myriad of different views. He has to somehow find a way to decide who he wants to go with and to make a choice from a wide ranging group of movements including, ourselves, Vendola and the numerous other groupings and public figures that have participated in demonstrations against Berlusconi in recent months.

La Repubblica: Is an alliance between the IdV and Vendola a done deal?

Antonio Di Pietro: I certainly hope that the alliance will also include the Democratic Party too, in other words an all-round alliance. The only ones that are as yet undecided are the members of the Democratic Party, who would like to see everyone united, right-wing and left-wing, all together in one huge cauldron. This is not possible and we won’t have any part of it. They must choose. And they mustn’t even think of putting together an alliance based purely on numbers, as the “Unione” did when they created an alliance with fish and fowl that had absolutely nothing in common.
Siding with us means agreeing with a specific programme. The IdV has gathered signatures for three separate referendums, one on nuclear power, the second on water resources and the third on legitimate impediment. What does the Democratic Party intend to do?

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The Pd won't play ball. Rather the polling booths

In yesterday’s edition of “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, Paolo Flores d’Arcais made a direct appeal to myself and Nichi Vendola, calling for us to work towards a transitional government that would address the matter of conflicts of interest and the electoral law (download the letter).

Herewith my response to that appeal, as published today in “Il Fatto Quotidiano”.

Dear Flores,
I am hereby responding to the appeal you made to Vendola and I. You agree with us that it is important for us to go back to the polling booths as soon as possible in order to get rid of Berlusconi and his government. However, as you quite rightly point out, unless two “minimum conditions” exist (your words), namely “the amendment of the current ‘bullshit’ electoral law, and the removal of Berlusconi’s totalitarian grip on the media”, it will be extremely difficult, if not totally impossible for us to win the elections.
Furthermore, as you yourself pointed out that as long as Berlusconi is governing this Country and has a majority keeping him in power, it is difficult to imagine that this Parliament will promulgate a new electoral law and a more democratic and plural set of rules to govern both the public and the private media.

The rules and the game
So, in summary and in conclusion: it is useless to try and change the rules of the game (the electoral law, the conflicts of interest or the plurality of the media) while playing the game at the same time. They certainly won’t, nor is there any way that they would ever allow us to do so. We had better get busy immediately to set up a totally new “alternative coalition” so that we can be ready to participate in fresh elections, whenever they may occur, even if it means going into such elections with the current “stomping rules” still in place, rather than dreaming of “institutionally loyal” coalitions, as you have called them in your own utopian and genuine words, or “national responsibility” coalitions, as Casini defined them with the obvious aim of replacing Berlusconi as Prime Minister, something that many people within the Democratic Party already appear to be willing to negotiate, just as they did in the case of Vietti’s appointment to the Csm.
Just so that we understand each other my dear Paolo, this coalition is already a reality.
You may well say: “well, what do we do about the Democratic Party then?”. All is not yet lost. The leaders of the Democratic Party only understand the law of the jungle, so we must challenge them on that very basis. Let’s get started on the establishment of this “alternative coalition” and you will find that the “fear” of being caught up and passed by newer and more determined political forces may just force them to re-think their strategy and to back down. They know full well, as we should all know and keep very much in mind that the top priority for this Country at the moment is for us to rid ourselves of the P2-ist clan headed up by Silvio Berlusconi. So we all have to resign ourselves to the fact that we have to live with each other in order to achieve our objective. When all is said and done, the pachyderms of the Democratic Party will arrive at the same conclusion. Let’s just hope that it won’t be too late.

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6 August 2010

Elections: the last resort

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5 August 2010

No confidence in Caliendo

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4 August 2010

We only need one Casini

Corradino Mineo: "If Caliendo falls then we’ll be having elections”, that’s the statement that it’s believed was said by Silvio Berlusconi, last night at a dinner with senators. Tomorrow there‘s the “no confidence” vote against Caliendo. It’s been put forward by you, by the PD, but the PDL says that “this no confidence vote is specious, and premature as the undersecretary has only just been put under investigation”. Was it really necessary to have this no confidence vote against the undersecretary?
Antonio Di Pietro: I think that it is necessary for the country, to give back a fraction of dignity to politics, to those who are administering public affairs, starting with those who are in the Government. After the case of Cosentino, the Brancher case and after the Scajola case we cannot always wait for the magistracy. Italia dei Valori is today asking Caliendo to resign, or it is asking Parliament to withdraw their confidence in him. Italia dei Valori is working towards the withdrawal of confidence in the Berlusconi government because it is harmful for the country. Those parties or those parliamentarians who have said that they want to get back legality and don’t vote no confidence are like those parliamentarians who throw a stone and then hide their hand. They don’t deserve trust.

Corradino Mineo: " Fini-Casini Axis regarding Caliendo”. It seems that Casini’s centrists, Rutelli’s “movimento Alleanza per l'Italia” and Fini will abstain. You are saying that they don’t deserve trust and that they are not acting correctly by abstaining.
Antonio Di Pietro: I’m saying a different thing. Abstention is neithe male nor female, it’s the offspring of those who don’t know how to make a decision, it’s a “smart Alec” that says it’s OK to stay on one side or the other by negotiating everything. If the UDC does it, the UDC being those who stay on one side or the other, OK, but that Fini does that at his first début in voting is like saying that “the mountain has given birth to a little mouse”.

Corradino Mineo: You had proposed to Fini to make an alliance on legality. Is it possible to have a coalition made up of entities that are so different, open even to Nichi Vendola who is putting himself forward as the left wing candidate for the position of Premier? Is that possible? Is it not a mess?
Antonio Di Pietro: No one has any intention of creating a governing coalition by putting together the devil with holy water. What we have said, and that I am saying again, is that we must make an alliance for a day, for an hour, for a minute, for the wing beat of a butterfly, then at the elections, each one goes his own way. Are we convinced or not that the sooner we get liberated from the P2-ist Berlusconi, the better it is? To get rid of him we cannot beat him up, we have to send him away. If Parliament were composed of 100 deputies we would have to act so that there are 51 voting to send him away. The time needed is as long as it takes for a butterfly to flap its wings. The Fini people and all the others have to vote together, today with the issue of Caliendo, there’s the opportunity, but if at the first opportunity they say "let’s get armed and get out", and abstain, it means that they are spineless.

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3 August 2010

Caliendo or not Caliendo

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1 August 2010

Drop the mask

Il Fatto Quotidiano: The right wing newspapers use your name like an insult. Last January, “Il Giornale” had the headline “Fini gets houses to disappear like Di Pietro”. Five days ago “Libero” returned to the thread with “Fini screeched like Di Pietro”. He, Di Pietro in fact named Fini in an interview with “Il Riformista”, explaining that “the rule of law has no colour”.
Someone read this as an opening to the President of the Lower House, others as the confirmation that IDV is a “right wing” party. And on Di Pietro’s blog, the anathemas have got started: “Together with a former fascist. Well done.” “Let’s look for the honest persons on the left”. “Between this and the closure with Vendola we are committing suicide”. And so on and so forth. He now explains by saying: “It’s the fault of the summary”. And that the invitation to Fini was not an invitation to a wedding. “Mine is an appeal directed at Fini and Bersani, because it’s necessary to do that together. It’s a ‘no confidence’ vote in the Berlusconi government. But it’s an agreement that lasts as long as it takes for an insect to beat its wings, after that each one goes back to his ideological identity”.
A challenge?
Antonio Di Pietro: Yes. I’m challenging Fini. Let him explain what he is thinking. Is it really a battle in the name of the rule of law or is it just a crafty move?

Il Fatto Quotidiano: What are you waiting for?
Antonio Di Pietro: We and the PD have already made the formal request that a no confidence vote in undersecretary Caliendo be put on the agenda. If it’s true that you see the good day in the morning, we are waiting for the Fini-followers to vote on it with us.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: And then?
Antonio Di Pietro: Then we’ll be going towards the elections. We with the Centre Left and he with the Centre Right.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: And yet there are those who remember that even from the time of Tangentopoli, the MSI was one of the parties that was the most appreciative of your work in the team of “Mani Pulite” …
Antonio Di Pietro: At that time, going on the words expressed, everyone was supporting the magistrates. Not just Fini. Even Berlusconi. Even the Lega. Then all together they ended up voting for the shameful and filthy laws.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: Ignoring the system of justice, on other topics, do you feel yourself to be closer to Fini or Vendola?
Antonio Di Pietro: You should ask them how near they feel themselves to Di Pietro. My own story speaks for itself. I don’t think that I have to take lessons from anyone on a cultural level. We are signed up to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and that’s where we intend to stay. We are part of that reformist area that here is improperly called Centre Left. I would like to see a change in a way of thinking: on the election of the members of the CSM, there was only one Opposition: our opposition.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: Are you against the PD?
Antonio Di Pietro: One more time it has shown itself to be a party made up of winking and speculation. The PD is neither one thing nor the other and that obliges us to create an alternative. We cannot wait for them to wake up.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: For example?
Antonio Di Pietro: For example we wanted to repropose three fundamental principles of the Constitution: equality, health and solidarity. They are the principles that we are defending with the three referendum questions that we presented to the Court of Cassation. Equality with the repeal of the ‘legitimate impediment’, which is the new ‘Lodo Alfano’. Solidarity against the privatisation of water, because it is immoral that only those with means can drink good quality water. And health against ‘nuclear’, a topic on which the Italian people have already expressed their opinion and that anyway has been overtaken with new technologies that are less expensive and that create more employment.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: These topics could be the programme of a hypothetical transition government.
Antonio Di Pietro: I believe that they must be an integral part of the programme of an alternative government. The “transition” is a general heap that we will not participate in.

Il Fatto Quotidiano: Not even if it’s necessary?
Antonio Di Pietro: No. I don’t believe in across-the-board coalitions that last a year or a day. What’s needed is just that flutter of the wings: to finish off the Berlusconi government. What’s needed is the vote of Fini and followers. If on the other hand, they continue to vote for the law on wiretapping, the lack of the authorisations to proceed, or the no confidence vote against Caliendo, then no. We have no need of a miniature Berlusconi. We need a party of the rule of law not of hypocrisy.

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The Pdl has ceased to exist

This is why I believe that going back to the polling booths would be the best solution for this Country, as well as being our democratic duty.
Instead, reading the comments regarding the crisis, I realise that a return to the polling booths is not one of the Italian political class’ priorities at all.
Today’s priorities in Italy are completely different, they say. Nothing to do with governability, or the economic crisis, or for that matter the problem of temporary contract workers and the unemployed. I have to ask myself on what planet the Italian politicians are waking up every morning.

Within the centre-right coalition, there is now an ongoing mad scramble to get a hold of any power and hot seats that happen to come up for grabs. So the Fini Group’s prick of conscience could well turn out to have been all for nothing and instead of being a life jacket for this Country, it risks becoming nothing more than a sterile political debate aimed at diverting attention away from Italy’s real problems. I have already launched an appeal to Fini and to Bersani to join me in a no-confidence vote so that the Country’s people can return to the polling booths. I want to reiterate, however, that there is no way that the Italia dei Valori party could ever support a government of reforms, because with the current majority in power, there is no possible way that such reforms could be in the Country’s interests, but only in theirs.

I believe that it is the duty of any party that still has the Country’s interests at heart to push for new elections aimed at sending home the current Government and its clans. Delaying everything is only useful to those who now have to re-organise, and to the Prime Minister who still has to complete his illegality and impunity plans for himself, his companies and his supporters.

The Italia dei Valori is ready to stand up and be counted. With the people and for the people, as always. Standing alongside this Country’s citizens.

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31 July 2010

Wiretapping: enough is enough!

Antonio Di Pietro: Mister Prime Minister, Mister Minister, gentlemen of the Government and colleagues one and all, on the last day of July, late in the evening and into the night, it was decided, hush, hush, to begin discussing the wiretapping issue, not really to discuss the wiretapping issue itself, but rather to keep up the appearance that it has indeed been discussed. This is an act of outright cheek, arrogance and a «don’t give a damn» attitude (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). The only reason why this decision was made in the first place was to avoid allowing parliament sufficient time to discuss this piece of legislation once it reconvenes after the summer break, simply because you want to cut the discussion short and to prove that you are going to drive this wiretapping legislation through by sheer force of numbers, merely because you can. It’s as if you’re saying that you “don’t actually give a damn” about what has been going on the past few hours, when the majority coalition has effectively fallen apart. This is an act of absolute cheek and arrogance, which reminds me so much of Saddam Hussein’s spokesman who continued to state that everything was okay while, in reality, the situation was actually very different indeed. This is meant to be a general discussion, so I will limit myself to commenting on a few main points with regard to this problem that we face in Parliament and indeed in the Country as a whole. There is only one reason for the fact that we are still here, ready to re-discuss this legislation even after it was approved by the Chamber and after the Senate made a few minor changes (and we’re here now examining yet more changes): not because you have had a change of heart and not because you have in any way attempted to improve the bill in any way whatsoever, but simply because you have been caught with your hand in the cookie jar and because public opinion, the media, the criminal investigators and the Country as a whole have rebelled, and continue to rebel against a piece of legislation that is evil, unconstitutional and immoral and that is an exact photocopy of your original. Against a piece of legislation that we object to both in terms of merit and method, one that should be binned immediately and that we of the Italia dei Valori party officially promise the people of this Country will be binned just as soon as we are able to rid ourselves of the P2-ist, Berlusconi (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). A piece of legislation that, even only from a constitutional point of view, is indeed an embarrassment to the Country’s Institutions, to the Country itself and to its good name, because it infringes on the basic principles of the Constitution itself. The obligation to take penal action means, above all else, providing those who are charged with taking the penal action in question with the necessary tools with which to do their jobs. If you proceed to block a modern proof-search tool such as the current wiretapping legislation and prevent the magistrates from using it, you are effectively infringing on the principle of the obligation to take penal action by trying to amend it in such a way as to prevent the penal action itself. Yet you yourself, Mister Minister, have claimed the right, in terms of the provisions of clause 30, to set the maximum allowable annual budget provision to cover the cost of wiretapping operations and, furthermore, to personally decide to which Appeal Court district it should be allocated.
In other words, what you’re saying is “you magistrates are free to wiretap telephone conversations, but I will be the one that decides how much you can spend and to which Appeal Court the budgeted funds will be allocated. Bloody hell, if you want to wiretap Berlusconi’s calls, I simply won’t give you the money you need! If you want to wiretap Dell’Utri’s calls, I simply won’t give you the money you need! And if you’re looking at Cosentino, do you honestly expect me to pay for it?” (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). This is an act of absolute arrogance, haughtiness, ignorance and total disregard for the Constitution! Taking away the so-called Falcone regulation, which enabled the investigators to use wiretapping as an investigation tool, even in cases that were not patently mafia-related, as if they were indeed mafia-related, thereby allowing them to realise the existence of mafia links sooner than they would otherwise have done, is tantamount to obstructing the battle against the mafia. Just lately, virtually on a daily basis, you have been bragging about how many mafia members have been arrested, but instead of giving the credit to the investigators, No, you claim that you have arrested them and give the Government all the credit. Please! Or “ma va là” as your colleague Ghedini would say, “ma va là!” (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). They are being arrested thanks to the very same wiretapping operations that you now want to stop, to the very same forces of law and order whose numbers and whose salaries, fuel and even toilet paper you now want to reduce (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). Notwithstanding what you are busy doing, the forces of law and order and the Magistrature continue to try to carry on with their work, even though, as usual, you people always target the weak and seek impunity for the more arrogant, haughty and powerful, in other words for yourselves.
The Constitution has been mangled and tortured, not only as regards the obligation of penal action, but also as regards trial defence rights and, above all, as regards the freedom of information. Why on earth should the people not know what is happening? Why on earth must freedom of thought and freedom of the press be humiliated to this extent? And above all, is it really necessary to try to gag the only remaining bit of our freedom of the press, namely on the Web, proof of which is the Prime Minister himself, who has no compunction about coming out with idiocies like «ta-tam», there’s a dossier, «ta-tam», the use of illegal information acquisition tools. But then that’s who Berlusconi is, a simple P2-ist who is also a major expert in specially prepared dossiers. If anyone has indeed misused the act of wiretapping and the physical recording of wiretapped conversations, then it is he himself. Yet now he expects to come here and discuss a proposed amendment to this piece of legislation, which – please note – the Prime Minister himself has hinted that he would almost be tempted to withdraw altogether. Indeed he must withdraw it, because a thing like this is of no use to anyone! All it proves is that he was once again trying his luck, but all that now remains are certain provisions that would prevent the magistrates from doing their job. Let me give you an example. Article 266 of the Criminal Code and Procedure, as amended, stipulates that wiretapping can be carried out – as you say – but that a judge must authorisation the operation, even in the case of conversation and communication flows. Furthermore, the judge authorising the wiretapping operation must be a member of a judicial panel operating within the district in question. What this means, effectively, is that they don’t want to allow the magistrates to use wiretapping as an investigation tool. In addition, in order for the judge to grant permission, he has to be given a copy of the actual case file each time and he must be given an updated copy of said case file every 15 days. This places a huge additional burden on the magistrates. Just the other day, we were down in Sicily with the Parliamentary Investigation Committee into the activities of the mafia and the other organised crime organisations, even foreign ones, at one of the Public Prosecutors Offices - I think it was Enna, or some such place – where we asked them how many magistrates they had on staff. Their answer was: none!
How can anyone ever expect those poor guys to conduct any wiretapping operation without these tools at their disposal? How can any judge be expected to authorise the operation within a reasonable period of time if a 3-member panel of judges has to be convened in all cases to deal with the request, especially if the same judges that dealt with the request cannot preside over the eventual trial against the accused? Where are the judges in any case, unless of course you’re thinking of using either the «Lombardos» amongst us, or perhaps just some or other administrative judge or some or other surveyor? (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches).
It appears that every time you intervene to amend the regulations, you do so purely to make wiretapping yet more difficult and untenable. There are a couple of real gems in here, not least of which is the provision regarding regional capitals. Another is the provision regarding the classification of unauthorised wiretapping as a crime. What makes this regulation even more ridiculous is that what you’re saying is that it is a crime to record any telephone conversation without official permission, even a conversation in which you yourself are involved. For example, Zaccaria and I are talking and he has a tape recorder in his pocket, so he gets punished for the crime of having a tape recorder on his person. In fact, the real problem is something altogether different, namely, would I be prepared to admit to what I said to Zaccaria? So the problem is not whether or not his memory is sufficient proof of what I said to him while he was recording (himself). The problem is whether or not I did indeed say anything to him for which I could be held criminally liable: that is what we need to find out! The regulations verge even more on the ridiculous where they stipulate: unless it is used in a trial. In other words, my dear Zaccaria, once the telephone conversation between us has been wiretapped, hide the tape very well and if you’re caught with it at any stage, simply claim that you are taking legal action against Di Pietro and then you’ll be quite safe! You are not punishable if you are involved in any legal action, but only if you are taking legal action against me, so the real problem is what happens in the case of delays? Who will get there first, you or the officers of the Carabineiri? It’s just another way of adding yet more factors. You have succeeded in linking the offence to the ridiculous in this regulation. That is why we believe that, amongst these gems that we have mentioned, there are some that scream for justice and that demand respect for something that makes no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, the Public Prosecutor is also required to name the Court police officer involved. Why on earth the man’s name for heaven’s sake? For what purpose? Why on earth must the Chief Prosecutors Office now be forced to keep a list of all the officers, non-commissioned officers and agents of the local Police Station?
Apparently it’s not enough to know where the officer is based, suddenly we now also need to know his name and surname, although it will still be up to the Head of Department to decide whether to assign Giovanni, Maria or Nicola. Why? And then another thing, the regulation stipulates that when the individual conducts a wiretapping operation, the Chief Prosecutor must countersign the order by decree: but why must he issue a decree regarding the decree? Is the one issued by his deputy not enough? Why does he have to motivate it further, does this mean that he is also responsible? Why on earth do we need to have two different signatures, especially since the request still has to go to a panel of judges who will then consider the application? Can it be that it is designed specifically to make the entire wiretapping process far more difficult, so the person thinks: you had better do all this yourself because, if you don’t do it, there are a whole range of consequences if it goes wrong? As a matter of fact, according to the provision in question, in motivating any request for an arrest warrant, the content must be explained without transcribing any part of the conversation itself.
Let’s see you transcribe the conversation between two members of the ‘ndragheta simply talking amongst themselves, it’s nothing like our youngsters of the P3 here: people chatting are people chatting, and that’s that. These guys chats are full of “ohs”, “ehs”, “mmms” and “hemms”. Come on, you go ahead and translate that for us! (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches).
And so on and so forth. It stipulates that environmental surveillance can only be undertaken in a private residence and if the crime is being committed in that place. Where I come from they would say “translated cisciss”.
What use is environmental surveillance then? I remind you that in order to be allowed to conduct any wiretapping, the suspected crime must carry a potential penalty of at least five years, which is indeed quite an offence. So what you’re saying is that environmental surveillance is permitted in a private residence, but only if I already know that a crime is being committed in that place. But then I would arrest the guilty parties! Why bother to wiretap an individual who is in the act of committing a crime? (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). Furthermore, it’s not even a simple matter to wiretap the conversations. You first have to approach a judge - indeed three judges -, in the district of the applicable Appeal Court. But what if the offender is busy raping a young girl? Do we then say: oh well it doesn’t matter, just hang on a minute while I try to get hold of a judge!
The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous! This is a regulation that, as it stands at the moment, is fatally flawed by a hatred of the magistrates and of the justice system as a whole. After all, that’s precisely what Prime Minister Berlusconi admitted just yesterday when he said that he had to go to Parliament because he had to solve the problem of the justice system. But he should come to Parliament to solve the delinquency problem and not that of the justice system! (Applause from both the Italia dei Valori and the Democratic Party benches) The justice system is not the problem, but merely his target! I say again, the justice system is merely his target. Quite obviously except for the delinquents and the P2-ists, that is. In one sense he is acting true to form in that eliminating the justice system is one of the P2-ist objectives.
This Italian organisation’s objective is precisely that: getting rid of the Berlusconi that is part of it, because he has become a major part of the problem. Using disinformation rather than actual information, they are trying to make the public believe that the entire blame for what is happening lies with those that discover the crime rather than with those that commit the crime. Indeed, the minute that anyone has had the temerity to say that they believe that everyone should be equal before the law and that the magistrature should be respected, you people have told them to go away and form another parliamentary grouping. You told them that they are not like you, that they don’t have the same DNA as you do and that it was all a mistake! (Applause from both the Italia dei Valori and the Democratic Party benches).
So let’s flood the streets and the Country as a whole with information on how things really stand because what you’re doing now is truly criminal and really hides your real, underlying objective. Let’s tell the truth as to why you have introduced this law in the first place (and I mean the version that you originally cooked up)! You purposely introduced it to prevent anyone from uncovering all your crimes. There is not only simple, mafia-type criminal collusion but there is also such a thing as political criminal collusion (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches) and, in this regard, you are indeed the head of the «octopus».
I absolutely understand the fact that you have been obliged to sever some of that “octopus’ tentacles”, thanks to the objections raised by civilised members of society and by the world of the Internet, the free media and the opposition parties. In this regard, Minister Alfano, precisely when were you thinking of getting around to removing Undersecretary Caliendo? After all, it is his turn to go (Applause from both the Italia dei Valori and the Democratic Party benches – Comments from the Popolo della Libertà benches).
Marco Marsilio (PDL): Mister President, you have to stop this man!
Antonio Di Pietro: It’s his turn to go because it is untenable for a magistrate, an undersecretary or a member of the Government to be allowed to collude with the P2-ists and agree on where and when to interfere. Interfere with what, you ask? Interfere in order to influence Constitutional Court rulings. While it may be argued that they didn’t succeed in their aim, I say thank heavens they failed! (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches). That is the serious aspect of the current situation.
That is why we believe that the time has come for the government to take responsibility for this situation, and that in the only possible way: by going home rather than continuing to destroy this Country. Go home before you cause a public revolt against the Government. The revolt is necessary precisely because you are the head of the “octopus”, and the name of the head of the “octopus” is called Silvio Berlusconi. I say this right here in the Chamber and I am fully prepared to accept whatever may be the political, personal and legal consequences of what I’m saying! (Applause from both the Italia dei Valori and the Democratic Party benches – Comments from the Popolo della Libertà benches). He is a man that went into politics for one reason and one reason alone.

Marco Marsilio (PDL): You can’t say that! The Prime Minister represents one of the Country’s institutions!

Rocco Buttiglione (Incumbent Chairman): Honourable Mr. Di Pietro, while you may well be prepared to accept full responsibility for what you say, this kind of talk is not permitted in the Chamber.

Marco Marsilio (PDL): Mister President, you have to stop this man!

Antonio Di Pietro: I repeat! You can kick me out of the Chamber, but mine is a political opinion! Mister Berlusconi made a political choice!

Marco Marsilio (PDL): This man is insulting the Head of the Government!Rocco

Buttiglione (Incumbent Chairman): Honourable Mister Di Pietro, while you are free to express a political opinion, you are not, however, entitled to insult the Head of the Government.

Antonio Di Pietro: I am not insulting anyone, I am merely outlining the current situation. Your presence here today is a real shame in itself!

Marco Marsilio (PDL): Mister President, you have to report this man to the Prime Minister’s Office!
Antonio Di Pietro: I also want to say something to that section of the centre-right that has had an attack of conscience here today and has stood aside. Let them have the courage to see this thing through to the end. If they have stood aside simply to share out the hot seats amongst themselves and not to send home a criminal and criminally inclined Government, then it is a centre-right that is not yet ready to be part of the solution (Applause from the Italia dei Valori benches).

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29 July 2010

Thanks everyone!

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28 July 2010

Now it’s your turn

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24 July 2010

Legality is colour-blind

DI PIETRO: “In a situation as serious as this is, in order to defeat the current P2-ist model government of this Country, the playing field must be clearly split in two on the basis of the moral issues. Also because there are indeed honest people both on the right and on the left, and here I want to appeal to Bersani and also to Fini”.

IL RIFORMISTA: And what would that be?
DI PIETRO: “More so that fearing Berlusconi himself, I fear the berlusconism that has invaded our society and likes to take shortcuts. Today, unfortunately, that same berlusconism also exists in the left-wing”.

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23 July 2010

Stealing the entire shelf is prohibited

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12 July 2010

Cattle market

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11 July 2010

Exile or the Bastille

This morning I read the newspapers and my jaw simply dropped in disbelief. I thought Oh No! The "P2-ist lobby” virus has even begun to infect the Magistrature. If even the magistrates are now plotting with the P2, then it really is the end of the road for democracy in this Country. All that’s left for us to do is either to emigrate or to grab our pitchforks and take back the Bastille by force.

But let’s take a look at what happened.

What happened is that on one fine day this year (I repeat, this year, not last century) they got together around the table: the man convicted on appeal for mafia collusion, Marcello Dell'Utri, the P2-ist wheeler-dealer Flavio Carboni, who is at the centre of so many mysteries, a man under investigation (and owner of the table) called Denis Verdini, various personalities of the calibre of businessman Arcangelo Martino and tax affairs judge Pasquale Lombardi, all now under arrest or worse, and, hear ye, hear ye, the head of the Justice Ministry’s inspectors, namely Arcibaldo Miller, and even Justice Department Undersecretary Giacomo Caliendo (the latter two are both long-serving magistrates who, precisely because of their background and experience, had to have known who they were meeting with, also because they had been personally invited to attend that shady meeting at the home of none other than Popolo della Libertà co-ordinator, the Hon. Verdini).
According to what is stated in the detention order issued by the Rome judges against three of the diners (Carboni, Martino and Lombardi), one of the things discussed were plans to act upon the Constitutional Court, upon the Upper Council of the Magistrature and upon various judges and Authorities in order to influence their decisions and rulings.

We don’t know precisely how much of this is indeed true, nor can we say whether or not the actions decided upon by the individuals under investigation (and here it is important to note that neither Miller nor Caliendo are amongst them) could be classified as a crime, but one thing is indeed certain, namely that, in the detention warrant, the accused are alleged to have committed the crime of being part of a secretive organisation with criminal intent (in other words, that notorious crime that was introduced following the scandal of Licio Gelli’s P2 Lodge), an organisation that, according to the judges, was and still is “aimed at influencing the activities of the constitutional and constitutionally significant bodies” (this is precisely what the arrest warrant stipulates).
This is no joke. It genuinely appears that the individuals arrested (and the others under investigation, including Pdl co-ordinator Verdini) were actively seeking to try to convince certain members of the Constitutional Court to rule that the Alfano Bill (the one that would enable Berlusconi to avoid prosecution) is indeed constitutional, as well as to pressure the Lombardy Regional Administrative Court to re-admit Formigoni’s nomination list as valid for the purposes of the recent regional elections, to attempt to influence the Upper Council of the Magistrature to support the appointment of Alfonso Marra as President of the Milan Appeal Court, to press for a ministerial investigation of recalcitrant judges, to intercede with the President of the Court of Cassation, Judge Carbone, to push for a defamatory dossier to be built up against Campania Regional Premier candidate Caldoro (out of spite for the fact that the latter was nominated instead of their preferred candidate, namely Cosentino, the current Undersecretary who was also recently named in a warrant for allegedly favouring the Camorra), and so on... Anyway, if all of this were true, it would mean that there is a well-oiled “secret criminal brigade” at work in our Country, one that is seeking to overthrow the democratic order in our ailing Republic.
The problem is that now this brigade is attempting to use its corrupting tentacles to draw in even some very senior public servants who, by definition, should be totally beyond suspicion. The danger is that this system seems to be spreading and that the virus is even beginning to infect the Magistrature and the oversight bodies. It is a virus that originated from the P2 plans and that aims to influence the decision-making systems. Within the Government, it is represented by none other than Silvio Berlusconi, card-carrying member number 1816, who is doing everything in his power to gag the press and to handcuff the Magistrature. Unfortunately however, this virus is now stretching beyond the confines of the P2 itself and is attempting to use its tentacles to also ensnare the Constitutional Court, Milan Appeal Court, the Upper Council of the Magistrature, as well as numerous other institutions. This is a virus that has been introduced into our decision-making systems by unscrupulous and shameless individuals, arrogant subversives and P2-ists. Individuals that have friends within the government and the governing majority, the Magistrature and the press, and that fully intend to exert unprecedented pressure and control on the Country’s constitutional organs.
At this point we have to make a decision, because we cannot simply stand by and watch from the sidelines, like Pontius Pilate: either we take action or we must leave the battlefield altogether. And we do indeed want to take action. We owe it to ourselves, to our own history, to our Country, to our founding fathers and to our children.
Our immediate demand is that the magistrates be left alone so that they can proceed with their investigations with no interference, delegitimisation or intimidation whatsoever.
We demand that these individuals be provided with the necessary tools, for example, the right to continue to use telephone wiretapping in an attempt to search for proof that a crime has been committed and to identify any accomplices.
We demand the establishment of a new Anselmi Commission, as was done at the time of the P2 scandal (also because many of the names mentioned in today’s newspapers also appeared on the membership lists of that same Masonic Lodge).
We demand that the Government immediately explain these events to Parliament and that a public, video-broadcast debate be held in the Chamber.
We demand that Prime Minister Berlusconi finally reveal the real reason why he took up membership of the P2 at that time and why he is now using the services of collaborators who are using the very same P2-ist methods to contaminate the democratic life of this Country.

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8 July 2010

I’m ashamed for him

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1 July 2010

Brancher: send him home

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19 June 2010

Brancher: a name and a guarantee

And it is not mere coincidence that certain ghosts from the past are resurfacing once again. As a matter of fact, back in 1993, Brancher was a lobbyist engaged in maintaining a good rapport between Fininvest and the political parties by placing political advertising spots on Berlusconi’s television networks. Indeed, at the time he was even called to account for having made a payment of 300 million Italian Lire to the Italian Socialist Party. Brancher attempted to exonerate Berlusconi’s Group by claiming that it was indeed his own Company, namely Promogolden, which purchased the advertising space on behalf of our current Prime Minister.
The “Mani Pulite” (or Clean Hands) Pool, instead, suspected that the operation concealed what was essentially illegal funding authorised by Fedele Confalonieri, who was subsequently placed under investigation, but the latter was subsequently cleared of all charges. All in all, Brancher is the right man in the right place and emerged from one of Silvio Berlusconi’s old tales: "when our helper was in San Vittore Prison, Confalonieri and I hung around the prison: we wanted to speak to him". I have to ask myself: "I wonder why? Were they perhaps afraid that he would talk?" But Brancher kept his mouth shut.
There are certain interesting details here that must not be overlooked: he was sentenced to two years and eight months of imprisonment, which was subsequently confirmed on appeal, on bribery charges related to the anti-Aids advertising spots, false accounting and legal violations relating to the illegal funding of political parties, yet immediately thereafter he was put in charge of Forza Italia North, eventually becoming a Deputy and Undersecretary for institutional reforms.
But that was all in the past, however, now the newly appointed Minister Aldo Brancher currently appears to be on trial, accused of illegal appropriation of funds, concerning certain moneys collected by the former top man of the Banca Popolare di Lodi, Giampiero Fiorani, during the course of the takeover bid for Antonveneta. And now, purely coincidentally you understand, the latest hearings have been postponed to 26 June due to so-called “institutional commitments”. His name also resurfaced in the newspapers just three months ago, linked to the maxi money laundering affair. In a telephone conversation that was wiretapped by the investigators, Gennaro Mokbel, who is deemed to be the mastermind behind the fraud, talks about Brancher as the one who inspired the mysterious "Italian Federalism Party" in Belgium.
Today I posed a question to the Government in order to find out whether Mister Brancher was being appointed as Minister as a reward for services rendered in the past, in other words for everything that he didn’t talk about at the time, or whether, in the light of the most recent charges against him, this new job is merely the usual way to guarantee him immunity thanks to the legitimate impediment legislation, legislation that enables ministers to avoid appearing in Court for “institutional reasons”.
In short, it would appear that Berlusconi, Dell’Utri, Cosentino, Brancher and their numerous buddies with criminal records as long as your arm have managed to replace our Parliament and our Ministers with courtrooms and prisons.

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9 June 2010

A morning of ordinary madness

Make use of the Viral Card on your website:

12.27 (source Asca) - "Today sovereignty is no longer with Parliament, but it has passed to a faction of the magistracy and its prosecutors that by means of the Constitutional Court, overturn the laws they don’t like. Am I letting off steam? No , it’s the truth. ”

12:39 (source Agi) - "I said to the men of Civil Protection not to go to Abruzzo or at least without identification badges, without making themselves recognisable. After the opening of that dossier there’s the risk that someone, perhaps has family members who died under the rubble and with a fragile mind, might shoot them in the head."

12:50 hours (source Adnkronos) - "In Italy, the President of the Council has no power. At the most I could establish the agenda of the Council of Ministers, but I’ve delegated that to Gianni Letta and not even that remains for me."

13:05 (source Sky Tg24) - ''For a few minutes, put yourself in my shoes, open up a newspaper and turn on the TV thinking your name is Berlusconi, that you are me. If after 10 minutes you don’t become nauseous, send me a letter telling me that I’m wrong. However, we will resist.''

13:21 (source Ansa) - ''In this package, few sacrifices have been asked for and among the relevant categories there has been that of the public administration workers because they have seen their salaries go up by almost double those of the private sector workers. "

With these declarations I would say that every comment is superfluous. All the same, given that the person himself holds the position of the President of the Council, we are duty-bound to reflect: is the Premier of the Italian Republic in his right mind? What risks are we running in keeping in that position a person who demonstrates that he is not in full possession of his mental faculties?
Dictatorships, in the countries that have lived with them, it is often not known why or in what context they have developed, it’s just that the citizens find they have settled in and that’s it. Of these dictatorships, we know that they come to an end with the delirium of omnipotence of the dictator, accompanied by actions and declarations that are often meaningless. And at times, of a violent nature.
Let’s say that, with today’s affirmations, the terminal phase of the Berlusconi regime is clearly recognisable. Now, those who have the country in their hearts have to take action so that his parabola of decline produces the least damage possible to the Nation and to the population.
The time is right for Italy to cast behind it this nasty page in history: that of Berlusconism.

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7 June 2010

Cuts yes, but cut waste

IDV’s counter-package

A) Measures to tackle tax evasion and recovery of taxes and greater tax revenues

1. addition of 7.5% on the capital that is legitimised by means of the “fiscal shield” (the overall rate (5% +7.5%=12.5%) would then be equal to the 12.5% of the tax rate on the substitute tax on financial earnings, for example on state bonds (7.5 billion euro));
2. bring back the regulations to fight tax dodging brought in by the Prodi government and suppressed by the current government (1 billion a year) and a contrast of interest with the possibility of deduction of certain expenses from the IRPEF taxable amount.

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3 June 2010

Only my court actions for defamation will remain

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Do no evil, have no fear

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26 May 2010

Direct streaming from the Chamber of Deputies

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20 May 2010

Federalism and national assets: the right choice

Today the Bicameral Committee for the implementation of federalism gave its go-ahead to the Legislative Decree regarding federalism and National Assets. This is a piece of news that we noted with satisfaction. This morning, during a joint press conference with the Minister for Legislative Simplification, we announced our contribution to the drafting and amendment of the text. We have done so out of a sense of responsibility toward the Country, since we believe that this is an excellent opportunity to re-launch our National assets.

Herewith (and in the video) the salient points of this morning’s press conference.

The Italia dei Valori says yes to federalism with regard to our national assets, but without violating our election mandate in any way: we are, and will continue to be part of the opposition and, as such, we have nothing in common with this Government, which will become apparent with regard to this latest interim budget. However, this does not mean that we won’t act in the best interests of the Country.

Rules have to be drafted jointly and we are sorry to see that, after having contributed to the creation o fan excellent tool, others now don’t have the courage to accept responsibility for it.
The Idv and the Lega have displayed the courage and the humility to discuss matters openly and positively: institutional rules and policies are applicable to the Country as a whole and must therefore be jointly established. I believe that federalism is an opportunity. An opportunity that could just as easily turn into a disaster if handled incorrectly.

Given the economic and social degradation occurring in Italy at this time, what this Country needs is a shock, some strong medicine. Up to now, our National assets have been a major financial burden and have often, therefore, either been abandoned and left to rot away, or given on concession to speculators as handouts. That is why I believe that the Decree regarding national assets is an opportunity for us to reflect on how the improved utilisation of our public assets could benefit the public in general. We believe that we have done an excellent job and we are therefore happy to accept full responsibility for it.

Institutional rules and policies are applicable to the Country as a whole and must therefore be jointly established, but I repeat: we have nothing in common with this Government.

The Idv never abstains because the politics of not deciding is no politics at all. A shepherd who is unable to lead the way is no good to his flock or to himself. Those amongst us who are neither fish nor fowl may as well just stand and watch the world passing them by.

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18 May 2010

Incalza only lasted two hours

Here is the text of an interview that I gave for today’s edition of “Secolo XIX” on Monday, 17 May.

IlSecoloXIX: Let’s assume that the government falls, overcome by all these investigations.
Antonio Di Pietro: One minute later we will have to have fresh elections.

IlSecoloXIX:Franceschini, however, is suggesting the possibility of an emergency interim government, inter alia going against Bersani who had rejected that kind of solution just a few days ago.
Antonio Di Pietro: It is not appropriate to exploit an emergency merely to re-allocate Parliamentary seats. The Idv party cannot agree.

IlSecoloXIX: So how do you feel about Bersani’s views?
Antonio Di Pietro: If anything, it is Bersani who has come round to my way of thinking, although I would like to see just how he is going to get agreement amongst the members of a heterogeneous party such as his.

IlSecoloXIX: Meanwhile, Berlusconi is not wasting any time: now he's busy courting Casini.
Antonio Di Pietro: We are not wasting even a minute running after people that use their party for personal ends.

IlSecoloXIX: The centre-left, however, now has to deal with the likes of a rising star such as Vendola.
Antonio Di Pietro: We helped him achieve victory in the Puglia Region after his not exactly exciting initial stint in government. Vendola now represents added value for that part of the Country.

IlSecoloXIX: In other words, you’re saying that he should stay right where he is?
Antonio Di Pietro: The Idv supported Vendola’s election so that he could spend the next five years governing the Puglia Region, not to fuel his personal ambition and act as a springboard. We also placed a magistrate alongside him in the junta in order to highlight the difference between his last experience and this time around. He is now in an excellent position to deliver what is best for the people of Puglia.

IlSecoloXIX: Now onto the issue of the investigations. Minister Altero Matteoli said that a man with a professional curriculum vitae like Balducci’s had to be above suspicion. Does the same hold true for Incalza?
Antonio Di Pietro: Look here, when I first arrived at the Ministry, in the office adjacent to mine sat this man by the name of Dr. Incalza, who was a member of Lunardi’s cabinet. Two hours later he was gone. Two hours after I left the ministry, he was back. Ministers have to accept responsibility for whatever happens. Don’t you think that perhaps there is a valid reason why these latest events took place prior to my arrival and after my departure as head of the Ministry for Infrastructure?

IlSecoloXIX: According to Minister Rotondi, the government has nothing to do with any “clan”.
Antonio Di Pietro: Perhaps Rotondi is referring to the Government of Estonia or that of Sweden. Our current government is indeed involved with some high-profile individuals, not least of all your former Ligurian minister.

IlSecoloXIX: As regards Scajola, what do you think about his refusal to appear before the magistrates?
Antonio Di Pietro: He obviously realises that he is an individual under investigation. Were he a mere witness, he wouldn’t have any choice regarding whether or not to appear, because otherwise the Carabinieri would be sent out to pick him up. Having said this, I firmly believe that in the coming days Scajola will be obliged to go and talk to the magistrates regarding the matter of the apartment.

IlSecoloXIX: The economic crisis: what should the government’s response be?
Antonio Di Pietro: What is needed is major surgery on the day to day expenditure, which is currently still concealing an enormous amount of wastage. The next thing that is needed is for the government to set a good example, in other words, any cuts should target the upper echelons of the population, starting with the politicians and corporate managers.

IlSecoloXIX: That’s more or less what Minister Calderoli has been saying.
Antonio Di Pietro: I love Calderoli dearly but he has this bad habit of claiming our proposals as his own. My teacher always used to whack anyone he caught cribbing someone else’s homework.

IlSecoloXIX: What do you think of the Burlano junta’s debut so far?
Antonio Di Pietro: I’m not really interested: I’m waiting to see something concrete, and now that we’re part of the junta, we don’t want to see anything other than total transparency.

IlSecoloXIX: Certain problems have already emerged with regard to healthcare.
Antonio Di Pietro: I have already answered you: we don’t want to see any form of concealment.

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17 May 2010

The unseemly auction

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15 May 2010

A programme, a coalition and a leader

Reporter: What is the Italia dei Valori’s position during such delicate times, when we live in constant fear that yet another scandal will be revealed?
Antonio Di Pietro: We of the Italia dei Valori party are convinced that we cannot simply continue to wait indefinitely for the Magistrature to act. The Country has to make a very clear decision, namely to get rid of anyone who is not worthy of being involved in politics. At this time, the only possible solution is to go back to the polling booths so as to allow the Country to have a government and a Parliament without any of these conflicts of interest and involvement in legal matters because, these days, Parliament is only dealing with legislation that is of interest to this clan and this political caste. Next week in Parliament we are scheduled to discuss the prohibition of telephone wiretapping and the Alfano Bill. This means that all other matters such as economic reform, protection of jobs, employment, relaunching the economy and fiscal federalism, in other words all those things that are of interest to the Country’s citizens, are held up simply because this clan is using the Country’s institutions to resolve their personal problems rather that those of the Country..

Reporter: But what is the opposition doing about this?
Antonio Di Pietro: We are the position and we are opposing this government’s actions both inside and outside of Parliament. We are doing this with determination and by urging the Country’s citizens to come out and sign this petition calling for these referendums and to come and join the protest so that together we can send this Government home. Our hope is that other parties will join forces with us, but we are very confident that the Country’s citizens will give the Italia dei Valori party the power it needs to force some sort of generational change in this Country’s politics.

Reporter: How confident are you really, on a scale of one to a hundred.
Antonio Di Pietro: I have the pessimism of experience and the optimism of hope. Looking at things the way they really are at the moment, it feels almost as if I am seeing the eve of the taking of the Bastille, because social revolution, meaning social revolt, is knocking at the door. While the powers that be in Rome are discussing how they are going to save themselves and safeguard their personal interests, the citizens of this Country are busy dying. Dying in the sense that we have millions of people without jobs, young people without any hope and without any real future, an environment and a Country that is increasingly devastated, and a bunch of organised crime syndicates that we simply don’t seem to be able to overcome, especially the white-collar crime syndicates.
My optimism and hope lies in the fact that there is only one way to put a stop to it all, namely not to give up, but to battle on and fight for a better ruling class. That is why we are trying to bring about change by means of referendums and the kind of innovation that is brought by fresh elections.

Reporter: How are the current relations within the opposition?
Antonio Di Pietro: The Italia dei Valori party believes that we must start early in order to arrive on time. That is why, together with our official request for early elections, we have also made an official request for the establishment of a viable alternative to this P2-ist and fascist model of government adopted by the Berlusconi government. We can create an alternative by acting on three fronts: development of an alternative programme; creation of a coalition or loose grouping between parties with diverse agendas that wish to be part of such a coalition and that agree with the programme; and identifying a candidate leader. In terms of these three prerequisites, we have also asked the Secretary of the Democratic Party, namely Mr. Bersani, to back us so that we can begin the process immediately. In an interview screened yesterday on national television, the leader of the Democratic Party stated that when the time comes they will be ready. Well, that’s very good news, but could he please inform the rest of us regarding who the members of the coalition are, what has been included in the programme that he intends to implement and who the candidate Premier is... We are out gathering signatures against the construction of the nuclear power stations, however, we also know that there are some seventy-odd Parliamentarians within the Democratic Party who have signed a document in which they claim to be in favour of nuclear power while, just last week, they signed another document that stated the exact opposite. You have to either be for something or against it, you can’t be both.

Reporter: Berlusconi claims to be concerned about what is going on. Do you believe him?
Antonio Di Pietro: I’m sure that he is very concerned, as would anyone that has been up to some or other trick and is now worried that he may be found out. The real problem is that the citizens of this Country are extremely worried about having a Prime Minister that is more concerned about sorting out his own personal affairs than he is about sorting out their problems. Seeing that Berlusconi is saying that he wants to kick anyone who misbehaves out of his government, the best thing he could do would be to take a good look in the mirror and say to himself: “Since I am the one who bribed a court witness…...perhaps I’m the one who should get out of this government”.

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14 May 2010

Scajola: hidden truths

LaRepubblica: Your Honour Mr. Di Pietro, first Scajola said that he was resigning in order to clarify certain issues and to be able to defend himself, then he fails to appear before the Public Prosecutors. What do you make of this?
Antonio Di Pietro: There is a technical aspect here that I find very interesting. Far be it from me to judge, but a sentence like that uttered by an attorney makes no sense. Everyone knows that witnesses are not permitted to decide whether or not to appear when called. When a witness is called in he/she is obliged to appear, otherwise the Carabinieri are sent out to go and fetch him/her. This means that Scajola is a suspect under investigation. In other words, this is news. I agree that the way things stand at the moment with Berlusconi, anything is possible, however, if what Scajola says is true, it would mean that this time they’re doing whatever they like without even bothering to try to change the law.

LaRepubblica: So you don’t believe Scajola...
Antonio Di Pietro: What I’m saying is that he has behaved far better than Berlusconi, who is a hundred times more under investigation than Scajola is, but has simply hung on to his post come rain or shine. Handing in his resignation is the least he could do and we must give him credit for doing just that. Now he must justify his actions and, in this regard, he has done the right thing by appointing an attorney to represent him. However, I hope that he will now choose to defend himself in Court rather than trying to avoid prosecution. This is the only way in which he can come out of it with his dignity still intact. Not like Berlusconi who does ninety percent of his defending in the comfort of Palazzo Grazioli or from Arcore, which, although I can’t be sure, seems to have become Government Headquarters. Indeed, the meetings increasingly appear to be focusing either on patching up what remains of the coalition or bolstering the defences, like the Constitution Bill. Anything can happen from one minute to the next.

LaRepubblica: In what sense? Are you saying that we could soon return to the polling booths?
Antonio Di Pietro: The Government could topple overnight and we could find ourselves facing an emergency for which we are unprepared. At a time like this I must launch a mournful plea to Bersani: we can no longer say that it is too early to form a coalition. This is not something that can be done overnight, so we have to be ready in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in Lazio. We have to form a coalition with a whole series of plans to address the Country’s problems, not a coalition against someone in particular. The time has come for us to choose a leader.

LaRepubblica: And who would you suggest as candidate premier for the centre-left?
Antonio Di Pietro: As far as I’m concerned, it shouldn’t be any one of the party secretaries. That would be a mistake. Please understand that I’m not rejecting Bersani or trying to put a stick in anyone’s spokes. All I’m saying is that we party secretaries should be looking after the team while leaving the premier nomination to a mutually acceptable leader with the ability to bring back some tranquillity and social peace, someone able to speak to everyone, even those that have simply stopped voting altogether. We have the sort of professionalism that makes us far more relaxed than any P2-ist, fascist and xenophobic centre right coalition. I’m fully prepared to stand back. Let the others do the same. However, I repeat that I’m not wanting to trip anyone up.

LaRepubblica: Won’t you give us a name?
Antonio Di Pietro: I am viewed as an extremist. As a die-hard, I am certainly not the right person to identify a social pacifist with an impeccable pedigree.

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13 May 2010

Elections are inevitable

In the past few days, the Senate Chairman has been, and still is attempting to give Parliament back its role and its dignity. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, who initially attempted to discredit the role of Senate Chairman Fini, is now making out that it never happened, and has obviously decided to put the entire matter to rest.
In reality, today the Pdl is more disjointed than ever before. And we now have a Government that is doing absolutely nothing about employment, job creation or kick-starting the economy. The internal power struggles are busy wearing down this majority.
Precisely because of these power struggles, we of the Italia dei Valori party are reiterating the urgent need for early elections because we have no intention whatsoever of standing by while this Country sits without a credible and stable Government.
However, this should pressure the Democratic Party to sort out its own internal problems because we need a programme that we can all agree on and we need to identify a suitable candidate leader to nominate as a viable alternative to Berlusconi. We have to create an alternative immediately.
We are pushing the Democratic Party to accept the need for a planning team. With or without primary elections, we have to stop marking time, otherwise we risk having to face an election as neither fish nor fowl. In short therefore, forewarned is forearmed as regards the coalition. We of the Idv have already begun.
The Italia dei Valori has no personal or professional reservations with regard to either Vendola or Bersani. Indeed, it is precisely together with Vendola and Bersani that we have to get to work in order to find an individual that could restore this Country’s tranquillity and garner the votes of not only our traditional supporters but also those that are currently voting for someone else.
We as party leaders are being called upon to display exceptional responsibility and humility. We must put ourselves at the disposal of a reinvigorated coalition that truly stands for change.

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11 May 2010

We've contracted out our public sovereignty

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10 May 2010

In memory of Peppino Impastato

Dear Giovanni,

Antonio Di Pietro

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9 May 2010

Yet another "Tangentopoli" scandal

Yesterday morning I appeared as a guest on the "24 Mattino" programme broadcast by Radio24. Here is an extract (and a video clip) of my address.

In the interests of the Country, I sincerely hope that we can have a general election as soon as possible. I hope so because I fear that this Country is heading for yet another “Tangentopoli” scandal.
Indeed, a situation that I would classify as highly abnormal is busy spreading like wildfire, namely, one where a myriad of administrators, members of government and Parliamentarians are facing serious legal problems.
In Parliament, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand whether the provisions being adopted are being adopted in the interests of the general population or in indeed merely to safeguard certain individuals’ impunity. I still remember Craxi’s address in Parliament when the former socialist leader declared that everyone was guilty and advised everyone to rally around him. The end result was that the entire party structure collapsed, taking with it the First Republic.
This is why I believe that it essential for us to have another general election as soon as possible. However, before the citizens rush out to the polling booths, it is vital that we approve two new regulations, namely that no one with a criminal record be allowed to stand for election, and that no one who is currently on trial be allowed to stand for election for any government position, be it at the central or local government level and be it as councillor or minister.
This is to ensure that only good, honest people sit in Parliament and in Government.
This is applicable to the right wing and the left wing alike, because Mr. Valducci is dead right when he says that: “There is no such thing as an honest Party or a dishonest Party. There are both honest and dishonest people in every party”.
It is important to establish a number of rules regarding access to Parliament, because Parliament should represent the best of society.
The “Tangentopoli” investigation was not entirely successful in “cleaning up” our politics due to the lack of the type of rules that we hope will be approved.
Indeed, to this very day we have certain people who have been convicted of various offences, some even multiple times, but who are nevertheless still sitting in Parliament and holding the same positions they held prior to being convicted.
I believe that we must start with one non-negotiable rule, namely that no politician should be allowed to be a politician merely in order to look after his own affairs. Anyone caught with their hand in the cookie-jar should be sent home immediately and prevented from being a politician.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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8 May 2010

Dear Bersani

Dear Mr. Secretary,

The Italia dei Valori party announced its intention to enter into a coalition with the Democratic Party, but has always stated that it would never be part of any coalition that, in addition to Democratic Party, also included the Udc, the Pdl or the Mpa.
At Gela, the Italia dei Valori party had reached a clear and public agreement with mayoral candidate Dr. Fasulo, who’s name emerged from the primaries as the ”official” Democratic Party candidate, after having obtained an undertaking from him that there would be no coalition with Lombardo’s Mpa or with any other centre-right party.
Just a few hours before the expiry of the deadline for nominations, the “official” Democratic Party candidate announced that he had decided to ally himself to Lombardo’s Movement, thereby creating major difficulties for the Italia dei Valori party, whose nomination list was consequently rejected.
This is not the kind of thing that one expects of a major party, albeit at the local level. It is a snapshot of a Democratic Party that has, at least in Sicily, fallen victim to a serious credibility crisis and moral decay. Moral decay that is purely political for the time being.
The Democratic Party cannot afford to treat Sicily in the same manner as the Pdl is doing, in other words, merely as the land of “askaris”, used to bring in votes for the party of choice, by tacit agreement, and a zone that is off-limits to everyone else..
If forced to choose between the “originals”, such as Cuffaro, Schifani, Miccichè, Alfano, Dell'Utri and Lombardo, and the “photocopies”, such as Cracolici, Lumia, Crisafulli and Speziale, the Sicilian voters will almost certainly choose the “originals”.
It would be a good thing to remember that, back in 2008, after Regional Premier Cuffaro’s demise following his conviction for serious Mafia-related offences, the Italia dei Valori party, together with the rest of the centre-left coalition, backed the Democratic Party candidate at the time, namely Ms. Anna Finocchiaro, rather than the Lombardo coalition, which included the Pdl, the Mpa and the Udc and landed up winning the election.
Now, less than two years down the line, that alternative position has been totally overturned and sold out.
A certain part of the Democratic Party, namely the one involving Cracolici and Lumia, has entered into a watertight pact (regarding nominations, positions and so on) with Marcello Dell'Utri and Gianfranco Miccichè’s Pdl and with Raffaele Lombardo’s Mpa.
Another part of the Democratic Party, namely the one involving the Hon. Lillo Speziale, has opted to go with Cuffaro’s Udc, apparently with the tacit approval of Schifani and Alfano’s Pdl.
Then there is yet a third part of the Democratic Party that seems to be calling for consistency in terms of choosing alliances. In this part, however, all traces of the Democratic Party appear to have been lost.
The Hon. Migliavacca, National Director of local Democratic Party bodies, has attempted to make some sense of, and manage what was going on. After a few fleeting appearances, all traces were lost of the Hon. Migliavacca.
This letter, with its crude exposure of the facts, is meant to be both an invitation and a complaint, aimed at urging everyone involved to accept responsibility for their actions and not to later claim that they were not made aware of the potential political and non-political consequences of allowing this situation to continue unchecked.

Kindest regards
Leoluca Orlando and Antonio Di Pietro

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6 May 2010

"Help yourself" Berlusconi

Pity that the Ministry for Economic Development also just happens to be in charge of telecommunications. While it is true that, in order to understand any decision made by the Prime Minister, all you have to do is dig down to find out how the decision will benefit his own companies and then also those owned by his buddies, but this time his conflict of interests is truly brazen.
So why does he expose himself to the criticism that such a decision naturally brings with it, given the patent conflict of interests? By now Berlusconi has realised that controlling no less than six television channels also means that he is in a position to squash any scandal that may arise.
In their panic due to the current economic crisis, the Italians have shown no interest whatsoever in this topic and that they have no concept of the possible repercussions. Obviously Berlusconi is terrorized by the thought of having to choose a replacement. Indeed, the potential repercussions of choosing the wrong person to head up this Ministry would be worse than the criticism he would have to endure by taking it upon himself.
Berlusconi needs a “remote-controlled” individual in the hot seat at the Ministry for Economic Development, a man in his own image and that is, therefore, fully controllable. He cannot afford to make any mistakes.
As much as the Lega would love to lay claim to this hot seat, putting a member of the party of the unloaded guns (the Lega Nord) in charge of Economic Development could cost Berlusconi dearly both in terms of his own companies and those of the clan, which includes those involved in nuclear power.
As a matter of fact, nuclear power is a fundamental issue both for the Prime Minister personally and for the potential profits that he stands to make from nuclear power, which, I would be willing to bet, will be absolutely huge.
The current media campaign, which is being run at the State’s expense and is specifically aimed at brainwashing the Italians into believing that nuclear power is both necessary and non-hazardous, will bring in an avalanche of money for Berlusconi’s buddies. Not to mention the probable financial benefits to be obtained from the shareholdings that nuclear power will inevitably bring with it.
Berlusconi will only give up this “temporary” appointment once he has seen to his own affairs as best he can. Indeed, once the machinery has been set in motion, even a mere spineless puppet will be able to keep it going, someone who can later be unceremoniously dumped, “a-la-Scajola” you might say, without even batting an eyelid.
The only way to put a stop to this umpteenth joke at the people's expense is to take popular democratic action, both inside and outside Parliament, in order to force the government to “lift the veil” on this matter as soon as possible. This is a change that can be brought about, also thanks to the work being done by the Magistrates, and the hope is that, as was the case at the time of Mani Pulite, their efforts will enable the Country’s citizens to finally see the real face of those that govern them.

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5 May 2010

Scajola, when the exception becomes the norm

Here is the text of my daily press release:

At this point in time, it is important to note that there are certain Government Ministers, or Undersecretaries, or Prime Ministers that can (and do) commit various crimes.
For this very reason, it is essential that laws such as the one concerning legitimate impediment are blocked so as to prevent any individuals in such positions from avoiding prosecution, which is precisely what the Prime Minister wants to see.
However, there is one moral lesson to be learned from these events: from now on, we want our Government to be staffed by people who don’t commit crimes and not by people that are seeking to avoid prosecution.
As regards the Scajola affair, one thing appears certain: the very idea that this businessman handed over certain monies without the Minister’s knowledge is totally out of line with common sense and with reality. So perhaps it would be better if Scajola were to tell the Magistrates what really happened and, above all, to explain to them not how much tax free money went towards paying for the apartment, but the reason why Anemone actually paid over that money via Zampolini.
Scajola’s resignation should not only provide some satisfaction only to the members of the IdV party, but also to all honest Italians who know that we cannot tolerate the fact that we have government ministers who cannot be prosecuted, which is what Berlusconi would like to see. We would rather have a bunch of ministers who get sent home if they’re caught with their hand in the cookie-jar. I sincerely hope that this will be the last time that Scajola is obliged to resign.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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3 May 2010

Nuclear power: in the interests of the clan

Although the appeal was directed at everyone in general, I believe that it was aimed more specifically at those that bear the responsibility for making decisions with a potentially high social impact, namely the people that govern us. Decisions that, during this 16th Legislature, the Prime Minister has arrogantly chosen to focus entirely on his own needs, ignoring and de-legitimising the Parliament.
So let Berlusconi start using his enormous power for the good of the people, as requested by the Pope. Let him disassociate government action from his own affairs and those of his clan.

Let him start by saying no to nuclear power, which will only serve to fill the wallets of a few unscrupulous businessmen while contributing nothing towards the wellbeing of future generations.
As you are aware, on the 1st May the Italia dei Valori party launched a campaign to gather signatures throughout the entire Country, calling for three referendums, one of which isagainst nuclear power.

Furthermore, if this business committee does not come to its senses of its own accord, the referendum for which we are gathering signatures will certainly be the one thing that will drive their idiotic decisions back into the sea, as occurred back in ’87.
The Italia dei Valori party wants to show the indignation of a free Country. Of a Country that has to look to the future, which means progress. A kind of progress that certainly doesn’t include the hazards of nuclear power.

Lucia’s letter

Dear Mr.Di Pietro,

Lucia M.
from Alessandria

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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2 May 2010

The Government that has forgotten its workers

The statistics institutions have recently released some unprecedented figures. Figures that send shivers down your spine. Not down the spines of the centre right, however, given their morbid search for laws to save the Premier.
In a year in which the crisis has swallowed up some 367-thousand jobs, more than two million Italians are out looking for work. Amongst the youth, the unemployment rate is sitting at 27.7%. A drama that is reaching even greater proportions in the South.
Within such an alarming context sits a Government that is incapable, made up of ministers that are more concerned about amending the Republican Constitution and the Workers Bill of Rights than about anything else.
A Government that is being held hostage by a Prime Minister who assesses the crisis gripping the Country by examining the results achieved by his own companies, which have only been saved from the global storm, just in time, by legislation that he himself has introduced.
What Italy needs is a strong centre left that is able to halt this anti-democratic slide. A centre left with reformist identity and that is ready to take over the reigns of this Country. A centre left that is public spirited.

Here is the text of an interview that I granted to the “La Stampa” daily newspaper.

La Stampa: The crisis within the Democratic Party is beginning to look rather mouth-watering to its allies, so much so that Antonio Di Pietro has announced the next move from the uneven political arena immediately surrounding the Democratic Party.
Antonio Di Pietro: «We are in the process of arranging a meeting in Florence to start putting together a programme and a team for the next general elections. The aim? We intend to revolutionise the current political framework that is based on the Democratic Party and the myriad of satellite parties that revolve around it. The time has come to launch a plan that, while still involving the Democratic Party, will nevertheless overcome the current subjection to this party».

La Stampa: So who all will be in Florence at the end of May?
Antonio Di Pietro: «We are currently busy – and I reiterate – busy arranging a meeting involving various politically dynamic reformist individuals that represent various associations and public groupings, in order to not only reach consensus, but above all to put together a programme and a team».

La Stampa: So this will be a meeting of individuals rather than political parties?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Certainly De Magistris and I will be there, we don’t yet know what Ignazio Marino’s intentions are, although he is a high-profile candidate. We do know that Nichi Vendola will be there, an individual with great commitment who is also attempting to convince his own electorate to overcome any ideological partisanship»

La Stampa: Will Michele Santoro also be there?
Antonio Di Pietro: «He is an individual that doesn’t need any convincing, although I have never discussed political activities with him».

La Stampa: Part of the left wing has fallen in love with Vendola...
Antonio Di Pietro: «Vendola is currently Regional Premier and his position requires him to take one step at a time...».

La Stampa: But do you think that one day he may well represent not only the entire left wing but also the entire coalition?
Antonio Di Pietro: «I believe that, within a year, we have to identify someone who can lead the entire coalition. A leader that is able to speak to the public across the board and that doesn’t represent a single structured entity. Therefore I immediately exclude myself because I have had to act as Rambo at the front and I only represent a part of the coalition ».

La Stampa: But then you are also excluding Vendola...
Antonio Di Pietro: «As things stand at the moment, he represents the radical left wing and has created a party around this identity. As to whether or not he would be able to recreate himself in another guise remains to be seen. I would not dream of issuing any vetos or making any proposals in this regard, also because I believe that the right person with the ability to represent everyone is not necessarily right under our noses at the moment. In essence, those of us who are promoting this change should the first to be willing to take a step back».

La Stampa: And what about De Magistris? There are those in this arena who believe that he is more saleable and “newer” than you are...
Antonio Di Pietro: «There are not two different Italia dei Valori parties or two other things that Di Pietro and De Magistris are organising independently. In bringing together new entities, the Idv is neither a spectator nor a rival, but rather a promoter. He and I agree on the fact that if the protest isn’t organised and definite, then it will split up into a thousand different rivulets».

La Stampa: Given De Magistris’ high opinion of himself, do you think that this is consistent with a kind of politics that doesn’t consist only of soloists?
Antonio Di Pietro: «This is a question that many people have asked me in private. In a very short period of time – after all he has only been in politics for a few months – he has proved to be a quick learner and has understood a lot, perhaps even too much! He has certainly added value to the political arena because of his clear thinking. Certainly, the initial impressions could well be that: he has just arrived and already he is demanding... As time progresses he can only get better ».

La Stampa: In essence then, is the IdV aiming to grab the lion’s share at the Florence encounter?
Antonio Di Pietro: «Please note, we are not going there with the intention of making any kind of hostile takeover bid, but rather to place a political cap on a political arena that is currently suffering the effects of the political party system»

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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30 April 2010

1000 gazebos for 3 referendums

We will be standing alongside the public in every region, every province and every town in order to explain the reasons that have led us to commence with this new battle in defence of our democracy. A battle aimed at restoring the dignity of Italians.

Thanks to your signatures, we will be able to block three highly anti-democratic regulations. If we don’t block the legitimate impediment legislation, we will no longer all be equal before the law. The Magistrates will, in fact, be prevented from prosecuting the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, or any of his Ministers. If we don’t defend the principle that water must remain a public resource, then we are distancing ourselves from the needs of the citizens by selling off a precious asset to the multinationals, namely our water resources. If we don’t stop the advance of nuclear power, money will be spent unnecessarily and the health of citizens all around the Country will be placed at risk.

There is an area available that contains all the details regarding the signature gathering campaign, where you will find a list of all the stands that have been put up all across Italy. You will find information on how to participate actively in the signature gathering campaign, as well as on the informative material being handed out.

We are relying heavily on your help and that of the general public. We ask you to give us a hand by contacting the local committees and, in this regard, information is available on the website www.3referendum.it. We have also created a page on Facebook showing the location of all the gazebos. Real time updates on how things are going with the referendum campaign will also be provided on Twitter. Videos and discussions regarding the referendum issues will be posted on YouTube.

The referendum campaign will end on 20 June, so we have just eighty days to collect the 800-thousand signatures required, which is equivalent to an average of 10-thousand signatures per day. Undoubtedly a difficult challenge, but we are convinced that, also thanks to your commitment, we will be able to do it.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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25 April 2010

Happy 25th April

Sixty-five years ago today, the partisans were busy liberating Italy from the fascists. It was the end of a regime. This is an important anniversary for the memory of our Country. An anniversary that must be rediscovered and lived with pride at such a delicate time for the nation as a whole.
Currently in Italy there are certain people that are distorting reality and other people that forced to endure it.

There is the Italy of the berlusconians, which thrives on lies and deceit, and then there is the Italy of the workers of Termini Imerese and the former Eutelia. The Italy of the ten-thousand VAT registration numbers cancelled in the Veneto region alone, of the people on unemployment benefits who live on fresh air, of the young southerners obliged to either emigrate or give up and of the independent journalists driven into a corner. The Italy of workers on the rooftops, of the white-collar workers who take advantage whenever there has been an earthquake and of researchers fleeing abroad.

There is the Italy of the Russian SUVs given as gifts to Government Ministers and the Italy of the Busalla (Genoa) tragedy where a family’s gas supply was cut off because they were unable to pay the bills and a 12-year-old girl dies of asphyxiation because of the brazier the family was using to heat the room.

But then there is also the Italy that is nevertheless still prepared to express its indignation and savour the fresh fragrance of liberation that Paolo Borsellino so dreamt of. A nation that is free of the designs of an illusionist premier and free of the ideas of a government that seeks to divide rather than unite. Free of the rules imposed by the clans in the territories controlled by the 'ndrangheta and the camorra. An Italy that still has sufficient strength to establish a new resistance.

I wish you all a happy 25th April.

Here is the second part of my address in Milan during the unveiling of my book:

"At all costs" we must do our duty. Our duty is to draft and put forward proposals, because mere opposition is not enough. Because while I believe that this government is bad for the Country as a whole, the majority still votes for them. So mere opposition is not enough and we have to somehow convince other citizens to change their minds and to convince those who didn’t vote to go and do so.
Secondly, we must have a sense of humility and admit that one cannot do it alone. So we need to find common ground and mediate with the other political forces. The alternative is to continue as the opposition, which is all good and well, until the time of the next election. However, the results of the five years thereafter will be extremely hard to swallow: in Lombardy we are left with Sultan Formigoni and elsewhere with Sultans Iorio, Bassolino or someone else. Thus we continue to allow certain names to rule. The same ones that have never given a damn about the people in the first place.
And so it is essential that we find common ground.
Getting back to what has happened in the past few hours, I feel obliged to tell you about what happened in Basilicata, where they have just established the new Regional Council. And since, just twenty-four hours earlier, we had refused to support the Democratic Party’s stand regarding Corsini, they lost no time in taking their "revenge".
We won 10% of the votes in the Basilicata Region. We are the second largest party in terms of representation and almost equal to the Democratic Party. Yet we now read in the newspapers that we have been left out of the Regional Council. To me it doesn’t matter, but they should remember that irrespective of what I may think, there are other people involved in the Region’s politics and, having been humiliated in this manner, they must decide whether to abandon politics altogether or whether to change sides. They think that their vote has not done any good whatsoever.
This is why, “At all costs” we must not become impatient at this moment and not lose sight of the final objective, which is to make the citizens understand that "At all costs" means, above all, not giving up one’s own identity and understanding that those within the institutions are required to do their duty, even if they then make you pay for it. Otherwise it becomes a second-class compromise.
However, "At all costs" also means that something has to be built. Whether we like it or not, building an alternative government cannot wait until 2013, but we have to start now by indicating what we intend to do.
That is the reason for our commitment to the three referendums of 1 May. Three referendums that reveal the path we wish to follow. No to the privatisation of our water resources means respecting the people’s right to drinking water even if they are unable to pay for it. No to nuclear power means finding a solution that will allow people to breathe today as well as a thousand years from now. No to legitimate impediment means re-affirming the principle that if you become a government minister and no matter whether you are rich or poor, we all remain equal before the law.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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Let's afford Parliament some dignity

In essence, this book contains my daily thoughts, as made public via my blog. Thoughts on a variety of topics relating to the political agenda of the past year, from education through to employment and the reform of the Justice System. Everything that happened inside and outside Parliament and we we of the Idv (and I personally, as politician) did in this regard, including the decisions that were made.
Obviously this book would need to be updated on a daily basis. Indeed, the book ends with a proposal. A Government proposal contained in 11 points.

So let’s update this book in the light of what has been happening in the last few hours.
If there was a chapter dealing with the last few days, it would undoubtedly tell of how we of the IdV voted against the extension of the hunting season.
A number of the things that happened however require some further consideration.
Is the current dispute taking place within the majority merely an end in itself? What should the citizen think about what is happening?
My personal response is as follows: I am not interested in the reasons why the Prime Minister and the President of the Chamber (kindly note that we’re talking about the Prime Minister and the third-highest State Representative here) are on a collision course. All that concerns me is the final outcome. There can only be one outcome, namely that if only we could give Parliament some credibility as an institution - in other words create a Parliament that can finally use its head instead of being limited to behaving like a bunch of yes-men and voting for anything which the Prime Minister demands – this would be advantageous for the entire nation. In the interests of both the majority and the opposition.
We would then have provisions that Parliament could discuss and vote on according to conscience and the interests of the people that voted for the members.
Unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment.
Currently, there is much hypocrisy in Parliament. I want to tell you about two very recent cases of hypocrisy. In most people’s minds, Parliament is made up of a majority and an opposition. Visibly, this is how it seems. Yet, in recent days, the rules of the game have changed in Parliament. The most fundamental rules of the game that is.
In Parliament, we voted on the exclusion of a parliamentarian. A good man whom I respect and hold in high esteem. His name is Corsini, former Mayor of Brescia.
But is it enough to like a person in order to overlook his theft?
Let me make one thing clear, Corsini did not steal anything, however, he broke the law. The law states that anyone who holds the position of Mayor must resign from this position prior to standing for election to Parliament, otherwise his election is null and void because he is ineligible. After all, in order to have any guarantee of living in a Country that is subject to the rule of law, we have to abide by the rules of the game. Don’t forget that this is the main thing that we have always demanded of the centre-right. Do you remember what happened just a few months ago? The ”save the election lists” law was the perfect example of abuse. First you fail to comply with the rules pertaining to the submission of your nomination lists and then you proceed to create a law that makes something legal that was previously illegal. I believe that this is precisely the regime’s way of doing things: using a post-dated amendment of the law to remedy that which was previously illegal. And there can be nothing worse than this because, in this way, everything becomes relative. Nothing is any longer certain.
That is why I wish to highlight the fact that if the centre-right does something and then we apply it, we lose all credibility.
In recent days we voted to oust Mayor Corsini, who stood as candidate without having first resigned as Mayor. Actually, it was not his fault. The Democratic Party failed to guarantee his candidature until the very end and Corsini obviously thought: I won’t resign as Mayor until I am sure of my candidature. The result is simple: he alone is guilty of breaking the rules, even though he was not really alone in that they then proceeded to nominate him anyway, even though the rules did not permit it.
A few days ago, in Parliament, I voted for his exclusion after the first runner-up approached the election council. And the IdV, whose core political business is to ensure compliance with the rules, could not do anything other than vote in favour of Corsini’s exclusion.
Also because, and I wish to remind you of this, in the recent Regional elections, the IdV could have nominated individuals that would have contributed +3% to our election results. Individuals that could represent their areas. However, we checked up on their current status at the time and we refuse to nominate anyone that could be called to account by the Magistrature.
That is what adhering to the rules of the game is all about, even though there is no apparent immediate advantage. However, our credibility will bear fruit in the long run.
As regards the Corsini matter, I said: let’s not vote, let’s send this law to the Constitutional Court to see if this law isn’t perhaps in conflict with some other law that this Parliament has promulgated. The reason is that there is indeed a regulation which stipulates that no incumbent mayor may stand as candidate for Parliament, but there is also another law which stipulates that an incumbent Parliamentarian may stand for election as mayor. This is a huge conflict. If Brunetta had been elected in Venice, that would have been okay, as it would have been had Castelli been elected in Lecco. However, only in Corsini’s case was this a problem.
What we’re dealing with here are two laws created for very specific reasons: at a certain point in time, it was important to nominate Tom for a certain position, so they passed an appropriate law. At another point in time they needed to nominate Dick and they did it another way. Two different laws created for very specific reasons.
I proposed not to vote and to approach the Constitutional Court for a ruling regarding the unreasonableness and incompatibility of these laws. The answer I was given was a flat “No”, and I couldn’t understand why. I spoke to members of the Democratic Party and told them of my absolute esteem for Corsini, but I also explained why we felt that we had to vote for him to be excluded. I then also predicted that the centre-right, being in the majority, would vote to send the Mayor of Brescia back home.
We were the only ones that voted in favour of forwarding the decision to the Constitutional Court, while the rest of the left wing and the entire right wing voted in favour of making an immediate decision.
And when the results of the voting came up on the board in red and green, I suddenly understood that the Democratic Party and the PdL had voted the same way.
This has obviously left a bitter aftertaste. They even proceeded to attack me, saying: we will remember this day when you failed to help another coalition party. However, it is not true that I didn’t want to help a coalition party, but if you ask me to help with a robbery, even if you’re my brother and I love you, then I would prefer to simply come and visit you in jail.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics
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23 April 2010

The opposition must prepare itself

In the past few hours, the political discussions have been putting Government unity to the test. The Country is watching and gathering information. Now, during the most turbulent period that this majority has had to face since they came to power, the opposition must look very carefully to the future. What we need are intelligent choices, rather than those dictated by the usual reasoning that has delivered the Country into the hands of the centre-right.

Here is an interview that I granted to the daily newspaper La Repubblica.

La Repubblica: Mr. Di Pietro, do you think that the Democratic Party has been slow in taking the political initiative?
Antonio Di Pietro: I believe that the opposition as a whole should not delay. We mustn’t think that we are in a position to wait until 2013. It is a mistake to think that it is too early to select the centre-left’s candidate for the position of Premier. In my opinion, we must make our selection within the next few months at most. Furthermore, I have proposed to Bersani that a series of planning meetings be scheduled between the Democratic Party and the Italia dei Valori party, precisely in order to establish the opposition’s general positions with regard to its manifesto. From our side, we have started in good time. We are still waiting for the Democratic Party to respond, but nothing has been done yet. I appeal to them not to sit back and wait for further developments.

La Repubblica: Are we now witnessing a political crisis within the centre-right?
Antonio Di Pietro: More so than a political crisis, what I’m seeing is Gianfranco Fini displaying great responsibility in giving a role to his position and, more generally, in giving Parliament back its legitimate role because Parliament should not be seen as a doormat. For this very reason, Berlusconi is wanting to throw Fini out like an immigrant without a residence permit. We have to find a way to help Fini. But let’s be clear on one thing, namely that Kadima’s theory has nothing to do with anything, in other words the third force that Rutelli has been talking about, which leans first one way and then the other way... The truth is that Fini is planning for a modern European right wing that will follow its own course.

La Repubblica: And what about the centre-left then?
Antonio Di Pietro: What we need is a recognisable coalition and a leadership that makes sense, not just to pull together a myriad of little parties.

La Repubblica: Would you be prepared to stand for election as Premier?
Antonio Di Pietro: Neither Di Pietro nor Vendola: we are good for launching the attack, but what is needed is a leader that can provide a sense of unity and team spirit.

La Repubblica: Are you always so critical of the Democratic Party?
Antonio Di Pietro: I know the Democratic Party better than many of the Democratic Party members do. Their problem lies not in the inner sanctum, but on the outskirts of the party, namely amongst the many local party representatives. Today Bersani and I also discussed the Trentino region, where the Idv will be standing alone because we have been unable to find a suitable partner to talk to. In Sardinia, instead, we will be standing as a coalition. In Basilicata, where the Idv obtained 10 percent of the votes and is the second most favoured party, we have just found out that we have been left out of the junta. They forgot to contact us and simply forgot that the IdV indeed exists. They decided to fill all of the positions from within their own ranks. Bersani was embarrassed. I called the Regional Premier of Basilicata and told him: "I’m sorry if I had the temerity to help you win "... we’ll see what happens from now on. But I’m prepared to overlook all of this because the Democratic Party is going through a delicate phase. On a smaller scale, what is happening to the Democratic Party is precisely the same as what is happening to the Pdl. I don’t wish to create tension but rather to spur on our democratic friends.

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17 April 2010

We stand by Emergency

Italia dei Valori will be in Rome tomorrow at 14h30, in piazza San Giovanni, to demonstrate alongside Emergency for the release of the three Italians arrested at Lashkar-gah by the Afghan Army.

Below is the text of my address on the Annozero programme screened last night.

We stand by Emergency, and not only because of the incident that has taken place in the past few hours. We stand by Emergency because of the arrest of three Italians by the Afghan Army. Our decision also takes into account the good work that this organisation does on a daily basis around the world.
As regards the three arrested Italians, we believe that everything possible should be done. Precisely what the Italian Government has failed to do. Everything possible does not stop at writing a little letter. Everything possible means taking immediate forceful action right from day one. Giving an unequivocal ultimatum that says: "You have captured three Italians and we now demand that you release them immediately because they were there to help your people and heal the wounds caused by your war. Either you release them immediately or we will withdraw our troops and stop all further aid". Now that’s what the Italian Government should have done.
It makes no sense for anyone to remain in a Country where, instead of thanking those that put their lives on the line to help those that are suffering, they proceed to kidnap them without any rhyme or reason.
Yet we don’t believe that the Afghan Government would ever have tried such a thing with the Americans and nor, for that matter, with the British. They did it to the Italians because the Italian Government is perceived as being insufficiently authoritative. That is why, right from the very first signatory, namely Europarliamentarian Sonia Alfano, the Italia dei Valori party has approached the Foreign Affairs Minister of the European Commission so that at least Europe will do what the Italian Government has failed to do as yet.
Given what has occurred specifically in this case, we believe that it is no longer possible to say that currently, in Afghanistan, there is a legitimate and democratic government on the one hand, and a bunch of terrorists on the other. In our opinion, there is an ongoing war between rival groups, where it is impossible to distinguish between good and bad.
We support Emergency for that which they are doing in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world. To say anything bad about an NGO such as Emergency is almost tantamount to insinuating that the organisation only goes into war zones to gain visibility rather than to conduct humanitarian missions, which is an insult to what is truly happening.
As regards the demonstration scheduled for Saturday 17 April in Rome, we urge all Italian citizens to come along and make their contribution. Saturday’s demonstration will certainly not make the release more difficult. On the contrary.
I am even prepared to stand by this Government in order to secure the release of the three Italians, however, I am only willing to do so if the latter lays down a clear ultimatum to President Karzai: "If you don’t release our men we will pull out all our troops back to Italy".
Finally, I would like to make one thing clear, namely that there may well be certain NGOs that are somewhat less than humanitarian, however, the NGO we are talking about here is none other than Emergency, not just some fly by night. If we look at Emergency’s history and commitment, we find that the organisation sets up hospitals where there are no such facilities, even though there is a great need for them. In certain parts of the world, without the work being done by Emergency’s doctors, losing a leg would be equivalent to a death sentence. What they are doing is a lay ministry and is worthy of our unqualified support. Certain members of the Italian Government have labelled Emergency as a gang of thugs. No comment required. They should be ashamed of themselves.

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16 April 2010

A Parliament with an identity crisis

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14 April 2010

When - the problems of the country?

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13 April 2010

I’m standing by Emergency: sign the appeal

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12 April 2010

A referendum against the reforms

IlFatto: Honourable Di Pietro, so you have decided to present the referendum on the “legitimate impediment“?
Antonio Di Pietro: The law will be published in the “Gazzetta Ufficiale” today or tomorrow. And on Tuesday we will lodge with the Court of Cassation, the referendum with the very precise question: “Do you want to repeal the law?”. And thus from May 1 to July 20 there will be 1000 tables out in the whole of Italy to collect signatures against the Lodo Berlusconi-Napolitano.

IlFatto: Talking of Napolitano: this time you have abstained from the really harsh criticism made on other occasions against the Head of State. Is this a sign of a change of political strategy?
Antonio Di Pietro: It’s pragmatism to get to the objective without giving a way for the “soloni dell’informazione” {media know-alls} to shift the objective, by hiding themselves behind the hypocrisy of the “unattackability” of the President of the Republic so as to criticise the “finger rather than looking at the moon” . So, instead of getting into a continual discussion about what Napolitano should or should not have done, we prefer to explain to the Italians why we don’t agree with this law. I prefer to say that it’s a matter of an unconstitutional and immoral measure, and it is ”una porcata” {a bit of filth}, to use a term brought into the “judicial vocabulary” by Calderoli. It doesn’t matter who did it.

IlFatto: The Majority have talked about a “bridging law” that will last 18 months, until there’s a constitutional reform. …
Antonio Di Pietro: But it is written nowhere that in 18 months constitutional changes will take place, changes that need a parliamentary majority of two thirds. With the collection of signatures, we want to convince the Opposition not to act like Pontius Pilate in relation to this referendum and vote against it. Because Berlusconi’s Trojan Horse is to get to the modification of article 68 of the Constitution, and deliver the impunity of parliamentarians. For this reason, we are counting on getting a million signatures.

IlFatto: But is there no way of trying to find an agreement with the rest of the Opposition even on the referendum?
Antonio Di Pietro: We have attempted to get, and every day we try to get an engagement with the Opposition. It’s the only way to construct an alternative, not only on a numerical level but also on the political one. When there was an attempt to do this only at a numerical level, with the Prodi government, it didn’t get a good result. However, certain votes in Parliament for the “non-authorisation to proceed” are still too hot. We are risking our alliance, but we have to improve the species.

IlFatto: But within the PD, there’ll be someone with whom it is easier to have a dialogue …
Antonio Di Pietro: Before, the IDV was considered to be an ugly duckling. Now we are the second party of the Opposition. It’s a political force that is gaining ever more credibility: we are the ones that set the pace. And among the Democrats there are so many realities that they are coming closer to us. Even though I don’t want to give names so as not to fragment the party even more. It’s enough to say that not all of them are in agreement with the idea of coming down to compromises with the Berlusconi government. The secretary of the PD, Bersani, himself has been staking out the reform, right up to a few hours ago, but ruling out wanting to open up. Now, he has to renounce going to Arcore, if he were ever to be invited: because for Berlusconi, invitations are like Eve’s apple.

IlFatto: What’s the point of mediation?
Antonio Di Pietro: The construction of a programme. And anyway, there’s no need to go looking for the PD, because both us and them are convinced that the law on the “legitimate impediment” is a bit of filth. They restrict themselves to saying that and to taking note. We are going into action. We don’t need the PD’s endorsement. We are going ahead like a train. And on 1 May, we will start the season of the collection of signatures for the referendum.

IlFatto: What are the questions?
Antonio Di Pietro: We have already deposited the questions for the referenda against nuclear power stations and against the privatisation of water. Now we will deposit the one to abolish the “legitimate impediment”.

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10 April 2010

A referendum against legitimate impediment

Legitimate impediment has become law. It is our Prime Minister's umpteenth "bullshit law", created ad-hoc for this servile parliamentary majority that is prepared to close both eyes as long as it assures them a nomination for the next elections.

But what precisely is this legitimate impediment? It is a law that grants not only the Prime Minister but every government minister the possibility of avoiding prosecution. All they have to do is to claim that: "I am a minister and, as such, you Mr. Magistrate cannot prosecute me even if I am accused of having committed a serious crime". Today we are dealing with matters of corruption and theperjured testimony of attorney Mills, however, it is not excluded that tomorrow we may be dealing with matters such as drug dealing, murder or rape for that matter. In those cases too, the offender simply has to be a Minister or Prime Minister in order to avoid prosecution.

So what do we do about this disturbing degeneration in the legal system? Firstly, our Constitution provides that the Head of State can express his disagreement with such a serious attack on our Bill of Rights and on the principle that all citizens are equal before the law. However, this time I won't touch the Head of State, our Constitutional referee, because I am sick and tired of being the target of the press and the so-called non-aligned members of the Democratic Party who are always ready to defend State President Napolitano without question.

I will limit myself to reading today's press reports as an unbiased journalist. On the front page of today's edition of ‘La Repubblica’ we find aneditorial by Alessandro Pace, a highly respected constitutional expert to whom everyone has looked for advice and to express an opinion before the Constitutional Court. The article begins as follows: “Quite honestly, I don't even want to question the State President's responsibility, for one simple reason, namely that, not unlike when the so-called Alfano Bill was forwarded to him for signature, this time too, Giorgio Napolitano found himself faced with what Leopoldo Elia defined as a case of blackmail back in July 2008”.

Here we have a President of the Constitutional Court and one of the leaders of the Constitutional Law Forum defining this signing as something that is the born of blackmail. Any further comment would therefore be superfluous.

Next, I paged through another newspaper, namely ‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’.

In an interview with Giorgio Bocca, an intellectual with a good head on his shoulders and who deserves the greatest respect, Bocca says that: “He has one of two choices: either he acts courageously (referring to State President Napolitano) and gets swept aside or he he adapts. It would appear that he has opted to compromise”. I say no more at this point because Giorgio Bocca uses another word, which I invite you to read in ‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’. If I were to utter this word they would vent their wrath on the newspaper reader rather than the individual who wrote the article.

So what do we do at this point? I believe that the only possible course of action is to ensure that this law is stopped. For this reason, on Tuesday morning we will be lodging a request for a referendum with the Court of Cassation and, with effect from the first of May, we will begin gathering signatures at the Italia dei Valori stands situated throughout the Country. I urge all citizens who still love this Country to sign because it is important for us to send a strong united message on this issue. A referendum is the only way to stop them. This law is unconstitutional. Once again it is constitutional expert Pace who says so, identifying five aspects that make the law unconstitutional. However, in addition to these aspects, I would also like to address the issue of ethics. This is an immoral law that makes provision for different rules for different people.

We will be demanding that this shameful law be repealed. This is the only remaining tool at our disposal, even though our friends in the Democratic Party insist on calling it “blunt” weapon. I believe that it is better to have a blunt weapon than to simply sit back and watch. I would rather face an enemy armed with an atomic bomb, even if I only have a sword, rather than stand and watch democracy being destroyed in this Country. What we need is a new resistance and someone to lead it.

With effect from the first of May, there will be three things that could change the course of this Country's history, namely, stopping this bullshit law, preventing this Country's future being held to ransom by a type of energy that will bring more damage than benefits (nuclear power) and will only serve to fill the pockets of a few businessmen and harm the citizens, and finally to prevent the privatisation of our water resources.

We want to move from words to action. Our hope is that many organisations will support us so that we can stop this anti-democratic slide. It is the only way to rid ourselves of Berlusconi and to defeat him politically.

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9 April 2010

Gutta cavat lapidem

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7 April 2010

They call them reforms, but they are slick tricks

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6 April 2010

At any cost, even in 2010

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4 April 2010

A people of lemmings?

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3 April 2010

The search for someone new

The election results are very clear and have rewarded the choices made by the Italia dei Valori party, its policies and its firm and hard opposition. The Italia dei Valori is the only centre-left party that continues to gain increasing support. The party has reached political maturity and acceptance. We have consolidated our position in the Country and we have now become a pivotal point in the battle to stop the Berlusconian decay and to rebuild the Country after the P2-ist era. All in all, we bear an awesome responsibility, which we must accept with maturity and a sense of responsibility. For this reason, we stand as a dynamic point of reference for the construction of a viable alternative to the Berlusconi Government. This is a threshold that is far closer than everyone believes and in order to cross this threshold, the Italia dei Valori party is committed to maintaining its position and spearhead the breakthrough.

In the meantime however, we must prepare ourselves and identify a leader with the capacity to gain more than 50% support from the voters since this is the only democratic way to succeed in kicking out the Berlusconi Government.

Therefore, whether we like it or not, we must rebuild (or rather build from scratch) a reformist coalition of ideas, of programmes, of parties and of voters able to swing the numbers in our favour. Anything less is simply outdated rhetoric or new grandstanding that will only relegate us to forever remain as the opposition because of the thousands of divisions that are holding back the various political parties.

We must firstly find the next candidate to lead this new National Liberation Committee. I believe that what we need is a pacifier figure, a high-profile individual that represents the best that this Country has to offer, a reformer with the ability to guide the Country out of the mire in which it currently lies, someone with the ability to grasp the opportunities of the times, to unite and draw back together the thousand different streams that have affected our politics. A reformer, a supportive liberal who will put an end to the fractionism and the proliferation of left wing micro parties, something that is essential and the starting point if we are to have any hope of achieving something as important as beating Berlusconi on the political front.

That is why, in renewing my esteem and my commitment to build a winning coalition, I ask the Democratic Party to rid itself of the currents that are holding it back, those little local warlords that select candidates based on their own interests so as to hold on to little slices of power and control.

A perfect case in point is what occurred in my Molise where, simply to spite me and the IdV, the Democratic Party put forward two candidates, both senior Democratic Party members, standing against each other in the two villages where voting was to take place (Montenero di Bisaccia and Termoli), which landed up handing a victory to the centre-right and made worse by the fact that the two even partied together, proving that for the Democratic Party in Molise, the IdV was the enemy to be beaten rather than the Berlusconian regional government led by Michele Iorio.

This kind of politics is wrong and must be eradicated, my dear Mr. Bersani, and in the Democratic Party's own interests, you must rid yourself of these local warlords as soon as possible before they become a millstone around your neck.

Indeed, Bersani must roll up hois sleeves and do some clearing out within the party, otherwise we will never go anywhere. We must have the courage to make some choices that represent a break with the past, we must aim to change the political order, otherwise we risk making the same mistakes that characterised the selection of candidates for the 2010 regional elections, in which, I repeat, the centre right won simply because the centre-left failed to convince, mainly due to the suicidal and self-serving choice of a number of candidates for the position of Regional Premier.

I refer specifically to the nomination of Agazio Loiero in the Calabria Region, who turned out to be a predictable hiding for the Democratic Party, which could not muster the courage to support our candidate, Pippo Callipo. I refer to the nomination of Mercedes Bresso for the Piedmont Region, instead of Sergio Chiamparino who would instead have destroyed Lega candidate Roberto Cota. I refer to Emma Bonino, an individual that I respect, but whose nomination in the Lazio Region was like poking a finger into the voters' eyes. And then I finally refer to the case of the Campania Region where, in an act of great responsibility, we of the Italia dei Valori party supported the nomination of Vincenzo De Luca, even though we knew that there were other candidates who could have done far better (we had earlier proposed judge Cantore, the same judge that tried the members of the Casalese clan).

In light of the above, the Democratic Party needs to make some clear choices in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, even the recent past, and to do some serious soul searching, without passing the buck for their latest defeat as they did with regard to the vote given to Beppe Grillo's “5-Star MoVement”. The votes of the Grillo supporters must be respected and, furthermore, venting their wrath at Grillo is like venting their wrath on the doctor instead of fighting against the illness itself. Grillo is neither right-wing nor left-wing, but somehow represents a protest vote, above all a political protest vote in terms of the environment, media freedom and a return to legality and is thus a legitimate and reasoned vote.

At this point, we of the IdV feel the burden of responsibility for starting the process of rebuilding a viable alternative to the Berlusconi Government, its dangerous political choices and its “ad personam” laws. An alternative government that is, as always, open to and ready for dialogue with all the political and social forces that wish to make an important and valuable contribution. An alternative that will address the real interests of the people, one that addresses the people's needs rather than those of the lobby groups and one that addresses the social and environmental issues. This is also why we are concentrating on gathering signatures for an “anti-nuclear power referendum” and an “anti-water privatisation referendum”. Furthermore, we will also push for a referendum against the intolerable laws regarding “legitimate impediment” and “prohibition of telephone tapping” aimed at defeating the criminals. These are some of the main issues in the IdV's political programme.

We are prepared to take to the streets and we are ready to call for referendums and to take the battle to Parliament, to the factories and to the schools in order to highlight this Government's failure to address the people's needs, which mainly revolve around jobs and employment, protection of the environment and the safeguarding of civil liberties and the Constitution.

In conclusion, we want to work for an Easter that represents the resurrection of democracy in our Country.

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1 April 2010

A leader for 2013

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30 March 2010

Start again with Italia dei Valori

Lombardy	1.4	6.3
Piedmont	1.5	6.9
Liguria	1.3	8.4
Veneto	1.3	5.3
Emilia Romagna	1.4	6.4
Tuscanny	0.9	9.4
Marche	1.4	9.1
Umbria	-	8.3
Lazio	1	8.6
Campania	2.4	6.5
Basilicata	2.7	9.9
Calabria	-	5.4
Apulia	1.7	6.5

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28 March 2010

Looking to the elections

Today I took part in the “Let's Cast an Informed Vote” event and spent no less than two hours answering readers' questions and addressing a variety of social, political and economic issues.

Amongst the various topics we addressed were issues relating to the media, quoting the case of Raiperunanotte and Santoro, issues relating to energy, more specifically to nuclear power, issues relating to alliances, specifically those in Calabria and Campania, any many many other issues as well.

Tomorrow and Monday the citizens have been called to the voting booths to cast their vote and decide who will govern their region for the next five years. This is the perfect opportunity and indeed the only opportunity that the voters have to send a clear message to the people who govern, namely that we have had enough of the continuous abuses, injustices and total lack of interest in the problems facing this Country's citizens.

On 28 and 29 March, be informed and cast an informed vote before it's too late.

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24 March 2010

The new Carbonari

10:30-11:00 – A brief look at today in politics (Sen. Pedica)

11:00-12:00 – Responses to voters on: work (Maurizio Zipponi, Responsible for the Department of Labour )
Send in your question

12:00-13:00 - Employment: what’s happening at Termini Imerese and Mac Iveco (Maurizio Zipponi, Responsible for the Department of Labour, and witness statements from the workers)
Send in your question

13:00-15:00 – The best of the IDV Channel

15:00-16:00 – Elections in Le Marche (Hon. Favia)
Send in your question

16:00-17:00 - Elections in Umbria (Paolo Brutti, Responsible for the Department of the environment, territory and infrastructure)
Send in your question

17:00-18:00 – Attack on the Internet (Martinelli and Byoblu, Blogger)
Send in your question

18:00-19:30 – The best of the IDV Channel

19:30-20:00 – Towards the elections (Hon. Antonio Di Pietro)
Send in your question

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23 March 2010

An informed vote, a clean vote

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The Internet: antidote to censorship

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22 March 2010

Participate in Informed Voting

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20 March 2010

Let's challenge him

Right from birth, a human being knows that any action he may take that harms others always has certain consequences, at least officially, which he/she must be prepared to face. At school, if you don't study and you are suddenly tested, you will get a bad mark, even though you won't necessarily fail. If you defame someone, you will land up in court, although you won't necessarily land up in jail. If you drive at night with the vehicles headlights switched off, you can be fined, although you won't necessarily lose your drivers licence. When a Prime Minister whose telephone conversations are tapped and is put on trial for collusion as a result, he must be challenged, even though he may well remain in his post. This is the duty of all politicians, without exception and irrespective of political affiliation, a duty that the majority may try to avoid by devious means, but that the opposition is duty bound to challenge by tabling a no-confidence motion. The experts of real politics claim that “you must not table a no-confidence motion unless you are certain that it will have a positive outcome”, however, what would this Country be like if all our teachers, our judges and our traffic police failed to do their duty? The very same opposition parties that have regularly in the past reserved the right not to support the Italia dei Valori's motions, have essentially ignored an official action calling for the Country's rules to be followed.

The news that has emerged from the newspapers in recent days is extremely serious: essentially, Berlusconi has ordered his cohorts to shut up the opposition, to gag the independent media and has proceeded to take full advantage of the media propaganda over which he runs thanks to his total monopoly. What precisely is this ignoble and coercive behaviour if not something designed to upset the democratic balance of this Country? What has been going on in recent days is unquestionable proof of that which the Italia dei Valori party has always fought against: Berlusconi is in Government purely to safeguard his personal interests and those of his companies and he is prepared to do whatever is necessary, including ignoring any laws and regulations governing democratic equilibrium, in order to achieve his own objectives.

The Italia dei Valori party has decided to table a no-confidence motion in Parliament (view the document) against the Prime Minister because he is killing off the Country's institutions in an attempt to bend them to his own will, he is riding roughshod over everyone else's rights and the principles entrenched in the Constitution and he is doing absolutely nothing to address the real problems that are battering this Country. As you well know, according to article 115 (clause 1) of the Chamber Regulations, in order for a no-confidence motion to be considered “it must be supported and subscribed to by at least ten percent of the members of the Chamber”. In essence, this means that the motion must be backed by 63 Deputies. The Italia dei Valori party members of Parliament have come out in support of such a motion, however, there are only 24 of us Deputies. In other words, our signatures alone are not enough. For this reason, we sincerely hope that the other opposition parties will show the necessary courage and determination and join us in countersigning the motion. However, the signatures of 63 Deputies would merely be an official requirement in order to begin a process that the majority will attempt to portray as the fruit of political blackmail. But this is no political blackmail and cannot simply be written off as a political mutiny. What this motion is, in fact, is like the red card that sends a player off the field for repeated infringement of the basic rules, which in this case guarantee the democratic rights in the Country, as well as an open declaration drawing a clear line between those who accept and those who reject the unacceptable behaviour of a large part of the Berlusconi Government. I therefore invite the Country's citizens to sign the motion symbolically on-line so that it can represent the wishes of all Italians, not only those of 63 Parliamentarians (24 thus far), who want to rid themselves of a Prime Minister and a government that is totally deaf to the calls of the Country.

We have to make an attempt and I ask that each of you do your bit to spread the word and encourage others to sign too: the partisans also started as small isolated groups, yet they managed to win the war for democracy.

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18 March 2010

Apulia : we won't say that the judges are black shirts

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17 March 2010

It’ll be the citizens to put him on trial before the judges

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15 March 2010

13 March 2010: a day of resistance