Gasparri on Mattarella. “The president has never shown hostility to the separation of careers”

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The bill on career separation arrives in the Senate today and Maurizio Gasparri, president of the FI senators and former minister, knows that this, for the government and for his party, is "an important moment", he says, "since justice is one of our priorities". He expects a heated discussion, Gasparri, he expects " a challenging parliamentary process ". He does not expect the Colle to slow down. "Of course, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, being also president of the CSM, follows the matter with particular attention, but I have never noticed any hostile position on his part. Nor have I been aware of any particularly difficult confidential discussions. At least, I have no news of them". And so the president of the blue senators expects "the culmination of a journey, even if we will have to wait for the third and fourth reading and the implementing laws. It is not a walk in the park, but the step is significant. We expect controversy, but we are armored in the face of a very ideological opposition".

There has been much talk about the Constitution and the separation of powers. “The obstructionism in the Commission has been strong,” says Gasparri, “and even in the past there have been, on these topics, complex gestations, at the time when Giorgio Napolitano sat at the Quirinal, with all due respect, obviously: a President of the Republic, even in the third-party role, is not an abstract entity and has his own thoughts. I am not scandalized, I remain pragmatic.” Different, says Gasparri, the climate today. Not everyone, however, on the right, thinks like him: a few months ago, for example, the FdI deputy Ylenja Lucaselli, on the screens of La7, even if immediately corrected by the leaders, said that President Mattarella “uses the Charter to express his positions” on the government. “I have long-standing relations with Mattarella,” says Gasparri, “I know his ideas. No one is detached from their own personal and political history. But let's say that Napolitano was more militant, and I say this, I repeat, with all due respect.” Now the majority will have to overcome the opposition's hostility, even in the country. "In the meantime, let's remember, also to be understood by non-experts, the fundamental points and advantages that will be obtained in terms of the administration of justice", says the former minister: "We are working to distinguish between the role of the prosecutor, the prosecutor who conducts the investigations, and the third-party judge, so that they become separate worlds. The prosecutor and the third-party judge must get to the point of addressing each other formally, as Silvio Berlusconi used to say. And, as Francesco Cossiga used to say, the prosecutor is the prosecutor, the judge is the magistrate who issues the sentence. I hope that the reform will trigger a virtuous process - which, however, will require a lot of time to change the mental habitus and the structuring into different paths that correspond to different functions". That is, says Gasparri, the hope is "that an end is put to the situation where, in the end, the prosecutor ends up cultivating a thesis and becomes convinced to the point of no longer being detached. They are two different professions." It is not a topic that is too technical for public opinion, says Gasparri: "I believe there is widespread consensus in the country: the political use of justice has reached such a point that, for the average citizen, the judiciary, in the popularity rankings, has fallen to the bottom, like politics. And let's take politics, which has been at the bottom of the rankings since the days of Sparta and Athens. But magistrates were much loved, until recently, like the Pope, the Carabinieri and Domenica In. The judiciary should question itself about this loss of consensus." Another key point of the reform, says Gasparri, “is the drawing of lots for the CSM, to put an end to the trafficking of judicial functions that we have witnessed over the years. I said this in an interview with Radio Radicale in July 2008, defining the CSM in a very severe manner. I was rebuked by the entire system, first and foremost by the then president of the ANM Luca Palamara, now a witness to the degeneration of justice. I had to apologize, now many agree with me. I hope that the introduction of the drawing of lots can lead to the depoliticization of the CSM. Then, of course, there are also those who say to me, these days: 'And if they draw all the wrong ones?'. Oh well, bad luck really has to be relentless. If they draw ten cutthroats, what can I say? Let's look at it like the draw for the Champions League. You might end up with Real Madrid or Norway, and maybe you even lose to the Norwegians”. In the meantime, today Gasparri expects "the ritual already seen: the protests, the press release from the ANM. I am equipped, let them do what they have to do. We have been waiting for this reform for decades. So, strong in the patience of the years, we do not have the anxiety of the hours and days".

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