Contacts in the opposition have been going on for days, but they have intensified, a few hours before the vote to elect a Constitutional Court judge. The appointment is at 12.30 in the Montecitorio Chamber. The objective is to move in a coordinated way, rediscovering the unity that the alternative parties to the Meloni government lost in the transition to the Rai Board of Directors, the memory of which is more vivid than ever: M5s and Avs decided to participate in the work, while the Democratic Party remained outside from the Chamber.
A wound still open in the opposition. For Carlo Calenda it was “a figure of imbeciles that must be avoided tomorrow”. The strategy will be better defined in the next few hours, also because after contacts with the parties, there are internal steps within the groups. Italia Viva announces that “in agreement with the opposition, Italia Viva’s choice is not to participate in the vote for the election of the judge of the constitutional court”. The line, therefore, is not to participate in the vote.
As for how to implement it, however, there seem to be two hypotheses: remain outside the Chamber or enter, but without collecting the ballot paper. This second option would respond to the need to highlight “the seriousness of the government’s choice to force itself by electing itself the judge of a supreme guarantee body”, as has been underlined. In fact, during the remote talks between the party ambassadors, the proposal was put forward to intervene at the opening of the session to stigmatize the executive’s choice.
Not at all enthusiastic about the idea of remaining outside the Chamber, Calenda underlines that “we cannot move forward continuously on the Aventine. I understand the difficulty because the majority does not have a great desire to listen, but we must insist. We will talk to the other oppositions and we will seek a common position.”
Everyone out or no vote, therefore, are the two poles between which the ‘pendulum’ of the opposition moves. This is provided that the government insists on pursuing the “blitz” path. Angelo Bonelli of Avs renews “the appeal to Meloni to stop and start a discussion with the opposition, because, in the absence of dialogue, we will not participate in the votes”. Everyone – from the Pd to the Five Star Movement through Avs, Iv, Più Europa and Action – say they are convinced that the majority has accelerated the election of the missing judge to “secure that nomination”.
The name identified by the majority would be that of Francesco Saverio Marini, constitutionalist and legal advisor to Palazzo Chigi. The haste of the majority in getting to the vote arouses suspicion especially among the Dems. For Senator Dario Parrini, in fact, “the right expresses its unprecedented desire to try to carry out a coup on the appointment of a constitutional judge. The Constitutional Court is not a matter for the majority. Having reached this point we have inevitably led to think that the government is frantically looking for shortcuts to stop the referendum” on autonomy “which it is increasingly afraid of every day. We are faced with a very serious fact”.
The reasoning is that the collection of signatures against differentiated autonomy, over 1 million and 300 thousand, has frightened the government which would see itself weakened by a massive participation in the referendum which would lead to the rejection of the reform. The “shortcut” Parrini talks about would therefore be to have the reform or part of it “rejected” by the Constitutional Court so as to defuse the referendum.