1 MEIC: Government: incomprehensible stiffening, parties must find a sense of responsibility

                The dramatic conclusion of the attempt to create a new government in the country is triggering a phase of instability for our democratic life. We are concerned about the arrogant way in which the President of the Republic has been forced to appoint a minister, an act which, according to our Constitution, he owns. We are concerned about the contemptuous judgments that are spreading over Sergio Mattarella for a decision that was the conclusion of a long work of mediation, shattered on the rocks of an incomprehensible stiffening of the political forces that should have supported the new government. A very delicate season is beginning, for the problems that our country has to face, but now also for the conflict that involves our institutions. At this delicate time, Meic would like to thank the President of the Republic for the dignity and seriousness with which he is managing a complex and difficult situation. At the same time, however, it is intended to remind the political parties and their leaders of a sense of responsibility towards the future that seems to have disappeared today, dissolved in an eternal present of incessant electoral campaigning.

2 The National Presidency of the F.U.C.I. expresses its closeness and support to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who in these 84 days has demonstrated his commitment to try to build a government and preserve the country. We express our full support to Mattarella and support him in the complex decisions he will have to take in the coming hours in order to guarantee a worthy and just future for our Italy, in which we, as young people and citizens, must invest and which we must take care of. The F.U.C.I. has always been committed to the political formation and support of our Republic and we want to reaffirm our commitment in order to bring a message of construction of the common good to young people within the University.

3 The National Presidency of Italian Catholic Action, in this difficult moment for the life of our country, expresses its esteem and gratitude to President Sergio Mattarella, stigmatizing the tone of the attacks of which it is the object. In fact, over and above the legitimate differences of opinion about the political choices on which Italyâs welfare depends, it should be clear to everyone that President Mattarella has always demonstrated, and has further confirmed in these eighty days and more between now and the March elections, a very high sense of the institutions and a firm respect for the will of the people. At this juncture, the National Presidency of Italian Catholic Action is appealing to all the political forces to find a measure in the way of conducting the political debate and to be able to exercise an even greater sense of institutional responsibility, for the good of the country. As we have already done in recent months, we also ask all Italians, starting with ourselves, to make every possible effort to tackle this difficult historical phase with a strong sense of the Common Good and mutual respect, pursuing the search for what represents the authentic interest of Italy and promoting a real confrontation with the opinions of each. So that politics may once again be the construction of a common future.

4 Message of the regional delegates of Catholic action and Meic in Tuscany; to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella

The Assumption of the Italian political crisis, which has degenerated into a crisis of constitutional order, requires an exercise in political wisdom that avoids compromising our democratic system. The clash that began because of the claim of the majority that has formed in recent weeks of negotiations in parliament, made up of the League and the 5 Star Movement, to impose the appointment of a minister questioning the constitutional prerogatives of the President of the Republic, risks plunging the country not only into a phase of political instability but also into a dangerous questioning of the cornerstones on which our institutional system is based. It is not a question of challenging the right of the parliament to define the political direction of the country but of having clear those “limits” and those “forms” by which the people exercise their sovereignty under Article 1 of our Constitution, which everyone knows to be a long way from the trumpeted right to be appointed as ministers proposed by one political side.

The delicate balance of power that governs our democratic life and that, despite its limitations, has guaranteed the country’s democratic growth over seventy years, is not a cage to “sovereignty” but the highest guarantee of the freedom that completed democracy offers. It is worrying to hear calls for national sovereignty that go so far as to distort the meaning of Article 11 of our Constitution, which makes the transfer of sovereignty – from the point of view of the peace to be built – the reflection, at European and international level, of a full and genuine democratic life. Europe, which is currently going through a deep crisis, needs to rediscover its deepest meaning, that of a political project of democracy and peace, and certainly does not need to fear scenarios in which a muscular confrontation between states is exercised.

We believe that it is necessary to give democratic dialectics the freedom that is proper to it and that must take place within the limits set by our Constitutional Charter, as President Sergio Mattarella intended to do by exercising with extreme institutional rigour the powers that the founding text of our State attributes to it.

The calls for a procedure to bring an indictment against the President, the threatening demonstrations against institutional headquarters and the intimidating tones of these hours are unacceptable and are even more unacceptable towards a man loyal to the institutions, such as Sergio Mattarella, whose personal and public history is that of a man who served the State with honour and dignity. The President of the Republic is responsible for the solidarity and closeness of the associations and movements that we have the honour of representing on Tuscan soil.