Mattarella: “Don’t adapt the law to the individual.” “Unacceptable” events in the Susa Valley.

The premise is that the Head of State is “alien to the dialectic between political forces,” but during the meeting with journalists from the Parliamentary Press Association for the Fan Ceremony, Sergio Mattarella nonetheless appeals to politicians for “mutual respect” and to avoid “inappropriate verbal aggression, often unmotivated” and “counterproductive,” with the hope “that electoral tensions do not divert attention” from the problems of Italians and “do not lead to distorting the reality of the issues.” The concern he reiterates is the growing abstention rate, an issue that, he says, should be a priority for all political parties.

The farewell to journalists and members of the Quirinale Palace ahead of the summer break is also an opportunity to address, albeit from a necessary distance, some of the issues of recent public debate. Mattarella doesn’t mention the Roggero case, the controversy surrounding the conviction, the request for pardon, or the clash between political parties over self-defense. However, one passage in his response to questions from the ASP is a careful and concerned reflection on the principles of legality: “In a civilly ordered society, reassuring for citizens, individual behavior must respect common rules, those of the law. If, however,” he warns, “this principle were to be overturned and the rules of the law were to be thought to adapt to individual, occasional behavior, changing their content from time to time, on a case-by-case basis, this would not strengthen security but rather constitute a decision to abdicate the State.” The President then reminds everyone of the need to combat all forms of violence. This time, the reference to last Saturday’s clashes at the TAV construction sites is explicit.

What happened in the Susa Valley is unacceptable

What happened in the Susa Valley is “unacceptable: the very foundations of democratic coexistence are being called into question, and any hesitation or circumspection in condemning and combating such aggressive behavior is unacceptable,” he emphasized, because “violence is a lethal virus for democracy and social life. Those who practice it, preach it, and justify it attack the Constitution.”

Journalism and AI

In front of the journalists listening to him, Mattarella then addressed the difficulties the profession is facing, from the delay in fully implementing the European Regulation on Media Freedom, to the hope that “the paralysis of the public radio and television system caused by the blockade” of the RAI Supervisory Commission, to the use of Artificial Intelligence, will finally be resolved. Cloned news that automatically and endlessly replicate on the web “without any verification” does not enrich “the cultural and information landscape,” he argues: “Information is not a clone of itself. It is not,” he continues, “a caricature of Dolly the Sheep.” This phenomenon must be monitored because, he notes, “people’s beliefs and values, and the unfolding of daily life, depend on free, independent, and in-depth information. A precious value called freedom depends on it.”

The EU and Geopolitical Tensions

Scenarios beyond national borders—pervaded by “unpredictable uncertainties” until a few years ago—are also at the center of the Head of State’s speech, which emphasizes “the need to safeguard the multilateral system” and “to reform it” to provide it “with forms and tools appropriate to today’s world.” His gaze is turned to Europe, which he defines as “the largest area of ​​peace and common development,” and to the EU, capable of presenting to the global community “a model of international relations alternative to the practice of commercial or, unfortunately, military confrontations, sometimes war.”

It is from the Union—he insists—that “a path to peace is proposed, as opposed to the attempt to return to barbarism in international life by restoring the law of the strongest.” Mattarella also emphasizes those who criticize the Union for its insufficient impact: “Criticisms advanced with ferocity,” he notes, “especially by those who obstruct, in every way and circumstance, the possibility of more effective decision-making and operational tools.” Finally, he does not overlook the issue of common defense, the “achievement of which,” he states, “does not pose a threat to anyone, is not aimed at war: on the contrary, it is a tool for guaranteeing peace.”