Italy'S Outspoken President
SENIGALLIA, SILVIO F.
REJECTING THE CEREMONIAL Italy's Outspoken President by simo r senigalua Rome It is said that Pope Alexander VI, when advised that the good burghers of 15th-century Rome were grumbling over...
...As for the U.S...
...Whether he has truly paved the way for serious conflicts or merely ruffled a few politicians' feathers will not become clear until the next president is selected...
...is that the President, although a member of the Prime Minister's Party, not so occasionally plays the part of an opposition leader righteously airing the grievances of " the people.'' The DC politicians seem to take the cries of "Viva Pertini" and "Down With the Government" much more to heart than Craxi himself...
...Soon, however, firm albeit respectful criticism began to be heard from the Christian Democrats (DC), long Italy's dominant political party...
...Then DC Secretary Ciriaco De Mita, in a speech to a party rally in Tren-to, expressed surprise that the nation's institutions could be challenged by those who were supposed to be among their principal custodians...
...2. The United States and the Soviet Union behave "in accordance with identical imperial logic...
...None of this, though, seems likely to daunt Italy's rambunctious grandpa, and a formal move to bring him forcibly into line seems highly unlikely...
...He has no interest in being an elder statesman who pins on medals and inaugurates horticultural shows...
...They therefore bear approximately equal responsibility for global tensions...
...3. Young Italian pacifists who spontaneously demonstrate for disarmament deserve sympathy and moral support...
...If future Presidents exercise the same broad prerogatives as Pertini without possessing his unassailable integrity, dignity and faith in democracy, serious splits could result between the Chief of State and the government...
...Silvio F. Senigallia regularly reports for The New Leader from Italy...
...DC President Flaminio Piccoli rejected Pertini's equation of America and the USSR...
...The Communist Party (PCI), to nobody's great surprise, lavishly praised the Chief of State after he dropped his December bombshells...
...Other Italian Jews resented Pertini's praising the "wisdom" of Jordan'sKing Hussein...
...A crusty old gentleman of 85 who is much beloved for his unwavering integrity and no-nonsense manner, Pertini refuses to play the traditional, largely ceremonial role of a constitutional chief of state...
...Since Pertini took office in 1978, his verbal intervention in matters within the governing administration's exclusive province has been a source of embarrassment to more than one Prime Minister...
...Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, Pertini's fellow Socialist, in fact publicly praised the President's "noble words" and "concern for peace and liberty...
...The law of the land, by absolving the President of responsibility for his actions in office (excluding treason or anti-Constitutional activity), implicitly makes clear that the formulation of either foreign or domestic policy is beyond his sphere of competence...
...As the days went by, the DC heads, possibly recalling the rough treatment Presidents of the Republic from within their ranks have suffered in the past, took an increasingly sharp tone...
...units in the force, they are there to defend Israel, not to promote peace...
...Only in private did some of them concede that Pertini's endorsement of the extreme anti-militarists and his plague-on-both-your-houses attitude toward Moscow and Washington, had been unwise, as well as in sharp contrast with the government's official stance...
...In his opinion the President is not a notary and still less a rubber stamp...
...Equally warm was the Pope's response...
...Pertini's penchant for "dialogue with the masses" was commented upon unfavorably...
...President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini's attitude is somewhat similar...
...The President's opinions can be summarized as follows: 1. Italy must withdraw its troops from the international peace-keeping force in Beirut, for the conditions that prompted their assignment no longer exist...
...Party daily L'Unita extolled the year-end address as one of the highlights of Pertini's Presidency, and as renewed evidence of "his extraordinary perception of the feelings, fears and hopes of his fellow citizens...
...He has been respectfully asked to remember his function and keep quiet, to little avail...
...REJECTING THE CEREMONIAL Italy's Outspoken President by simo r senigalua Rome It is said that Pope Alexander VI, when advised that the good burghers of 15th-century Rome were grumbling over Church policy, used to reply: "Let them talk, so long as I can do what I please...
...On the contrary, he often expresses his views bluntly when tact and diplomacy would recommend a careful silence...
...4. The Israeli government must continue to be held politically responsible for the massacre of Palestinian civilians at Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in September 1982...
...Speaking from the usual window of his Vatican apartments to a large crowd massed in St...
...The inflammatory remarks were delivered first in the course of an informal meeting with journalists before Christmas, and then in Pertini's end-of-the-year message to the nation...
...AsPer-tini told it to the press, John Paul had already telephoned after the broadcast of the message to tell the President he had made a great statement that was in full accordance with the head of the Church's own feelings...
...He feels he is the conscience of the nation, and that as such it is his duty to publicly offer criticism and suggestions whenever he believes circumstances require...
...Despite their obvious shock value, these pronouncements initially drew rather bland criticism, possibly because the leaders of the parties in Italy's governing coalition smelled danger and were squeamish about rising to the challenge...
...They were intended, as sectors of the press did not fail to note, to needle the professional politicians, and to force them to face a number of uncomfortable issues...
...Now, thanks to a number of deliberately provocative statements he issued during the recent holiday season, Pertini finds himself at the center of a constitutional debate that is gradually turning into a political storm—the popularity of the " nation's grandpa," as he likes to be called, notwithstanding...
...A different kind of criticism was leveled at Pertini by Rome's Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff, by the Union of Jewish Congregations, and by other Jewish sources concerned that the President's remarks might pave the way for a new surge of anti-Semitism...
...WhatreallyirritatesDeMita&Co...
...Other party spokesmen, along with the leaders of the small pro-Western Social Democrat Party, also warned against the danger of pro-Soviet elements orchestrating peace demonstrations...
...If he were an ordinary citizen, one might well agree with his stand on Lebanon, share his affection for peace-loving young people, find fault with his views on the U. S. and Israel, and so on...
...The reference— De Mita's subsequent denial notwithstanding—quite obviously was to Per-tini's support of potentially subversive disarmament actions...
...They have the President's...
...Peter's Square on New Year's Day, John Paul II complimented the Italian President and expressed the hope that he would remain in office formanyyears to come...
...But the President of the Republic is in a peculiarly delicate situation because he speaks neither solely for himself, like the man in the street, nor for the government, as does the Foreign Minister...
...In extending his blessing to the Hashemite monarch, they pointed out, the President overlooked the slaughter of more than 10,000Palestinians by the Jordanian Army during the "Black September" of 1970...
...Italian soldiers must not become involved in a strictly Lebanese conflict...
...The Union's President Tullia Zevi wrote Pertini a long letter asking him "to assess the complex Near East reality with impartiality," and recalling that the authors and perpetrators of the Sabra and Shatila tragedy were Lebanese Christian Phalangists, even if Israel is to blame for letting them loose...
...This view amounts to a broad and subjective interpretation of the Italian Constitution...
...Still, several knowledgeable, nonpartisan analysts seem to agree that, while muzzling the President is certainly not an appealing idea, acceptance of Pertini's conception of his constitutional powers could represent a dangerous precedent...
...Thus the constitutional question Pertini has raised about the role of his office will probably be batted about inconclusively...
...As Eugenio Scalfari acutely noted in the Rome daily Repubblica, the issue is not what Pertini said...
Vol. 67 • January 1984 • No. 2
