Correspondent in Rome
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Making the Italians see what the profile of a president-patriot of the Italian Republic should be, to guarantee institutional and moral unity, he has fired Sergio Mattarella, 80 years. His last speech as Head of State, after his seven-year term, was a clear, indirect refusal to former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who, at 85, is running as his ssuccessor in the presidency of the Republic. Sergio Mattarella has long been a loved president by Italians and is leaving when his popularity has exploded in polls to record levels. They acclaim him in the streets and in all places of power. They have asked him to continue in the Quirinal Palace.
As if he were a successful tenor, at the recent opening of the opera season at Milan’s Scala, the audience asked for his encore. But he ended his seven-year term last night, which ends naturally on February 3. Mattarella quietly rented an apartment in Rome a few weeks ago, where he will leave when he leaves the Quirinal Palace in a month
Thinking of the common good
With the sober style that always characterized him, on his feet during the fifteen minutes that his speech lasted, Mattarella gave personal testimony of the role of the Head of State: basically that of representing “the real face of a united and united Republic. It is patriotism expressed concretely in the life of the Republic. To the political class that must elect his successor -the voting in parliament will begin around the 20th next-, Sergio Mattarella made it very clear that he must be a president of all, forget about partisanship and think about the common good. The profile of the new head of state must have two substantive demands and Mattarella described it in these words: “It must divest itself of all previous ownership and assume exclusive responsibility for the general interest. And also safeguard the role, powers and prerogatives of the institutions that must be transmitted intact to his successor. The profile drawn by Mattarella matches little with Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, a divisive politician. Today all political leaders have praised the speech of the President of the Republic, except Berlusconi who has maintained a deafening silence.
Draghi, the favorite
Mattarella’s seven-year term has not been easy, a period in which five governments have succeeded one another. One of his most delicate moments was last February, when in the midst of a pandemic and given the fragility of the government, without sufficient parliamentary support, he called on Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank, to form a government of national unity. Analysts favorite Draghi in the race to the Quirinal.
Sergio Matarella, who has been harsh with the anti-vaccines, dedicated precisely one of the strongest passages of the speech to remembering, in a simple and understandable way, that «vaccines have been and are a precious tool, not because they guarantee invulnerability, but because They represent the defense that allows you to reduce risks for yourself and for others.
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