«Not everything can be sacrificed in the name of the slogan "you choose the head of government". Even the prehistoric tribes had a leader."

Senator for life Liliana Segre thus concluded her speech in the Senate during the general discussion on the premiership , with an extremely critical speech on the Casellati bill in which she identified "alarming aspects" about which - she said - "I cannot and do not want to remain silent ».

The hall of Palazzo Madama was busy on the second day dedicated to the general discussion which could end as early as tomorrow, with the vast majority of interventions by opposition senators. These have all confirmed their opposition to direct elections and above all to the mechanism of Parliament being elected "by dragging" the candidate for prime minister, moreover without guarantees of a run-off.

But it was the speech of the senator for life, appointed by President Sergio Mattarella, that characterized the day for the clarity of the arguments against the bill: first of all on the method followed by the majority ("A test of strength") and secondly on the merits (“A daring experimentation”). According to Segre, the text wanted by the centre-right, with the election of Parliament following the lead candidate for prime minister «produces an abnormal damage to the representativeness of parliament , where it is attempted to create a majority at any cost at the service of the elected President, through such majoritarian artifices to distort the free choices of the electorate beyond all reasonableness".

Furthermore, Segre insisted, the reform produces "a drastic downgrading to the detriment of the President of the Republic" ; the latter «is not only deprived of some fundamental prerogatives, but would be fatally forced to look up to a Prime Minister with a direct popular investiture. And the concern increases due to the fact that even the office of President of the Republic can be included in the spoils that the party or coalition that wins the political elections obtains, in one fell swoop, thanks to the majority bonus ."

«This means that the winning party or coalition would be able to win over the Prime Minister and the government, the absolute majority of senators and deputies, the President of the Republic and, consequently, also control of the Constitutional Court and other guarantee bodies. All under the absolute dominion of a head of government with de facto power of life and death over Parliament." «No presidential or semi-presidential system would allow such a concentration of power – underlined Segre – It is therefore not possible to recognize in the deviation from the electoral program of the governing coalition - which proposed presidentialism - a gesture of good will towards broader sharing. On the contrary, we are faced with an even deeper upheaval which exposes us to even greater dangers ."

And then the final blow: «Even the tribes of prehistory had a leader, but only constitutional democracies have separation of powers, checks and balances, that is , the barriers to avoid falling back into those autocracies against which all Constitutions were born ». Similar concepts were expressed by the other senator for life, the scientist Elena Cattaneo , who underlined that to address the problem of instability we should rather aim to "restore strength, dignity and autonomy to a currently weakened Parliament".

When the general discussion in the Chamber ends, Minister Maria Elisabetta Casellati will respond, but at the moment it does not seem that the majority is willing to change course . Meloni defended the text ("With the reform everything will change") and confirmed that we are heading to the referendum. “I don't worry about what my opponents say,” she said and then underlined that the referendum “will not concern” her but rather “the future”.

(Unioneonline/D)

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