How much power does the Italian president actually have?

The president of Italy, an institutionally respected figure, has limited powers but ones which have often proved crucial during political crises.

Published: 28 May 2018 08:13 CEST

How much power does the Italian president actually have?

Sergio Mattarella speaks to journalists on Sunday. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

The current President Sergio Mattarella refused to appoint a eurosceptic finance minister, even though he was the choice of the prime minister-designate and had the backing of the majority of parliamentarians.

His decision to exercise this right, which is enshrined in Article 92 of the Italian constitution, enraged the far-right League of Matteo Salvini and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement of Luigi Di Maio.

It is not the first time that an Italian president has refused to appoint a minister supported by the majority of lawmakers — it has happened at least three times before, most notoriously with Silvio Berlusconi.

After winning elections in 1994, the media magnate, who was already in the crosshairs of the Italian justice system, proposed to president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to nominate his personal lawyer Cesare Previti as Minister of Justice. Scalfaro refused and Berlusconi accepted defeat.

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This time, the Italian populists have refused to accept that the country's head of state is simply exercising his prerogative, instead denouncing what they claim is meddling by Brussels or financial lobbyists.

It is on this basis that Di Maio has raised the possibility of impeaching Mattarella for treason — something that would require an absolute majority in both chambers of parliament in a joint session.

The president has very limited powers but can appoint heads of government and their chosen ministers.

The constitution also gives the president the power to dissolve parliament, a deterrent force which has played a part in numerous prior political crises in Italy — a country which has had 64 governments since 1946.

During the financial crisis in 2011, when global markets turned on Italy, President Giorgio Napolitano supported a move to oust Silvio Berlusconi and replace him with former European Commissioner Mario Monti. Berlusconi denounced what he said was a state coup and demanded early elections — but in vain.

The League and M5S had also called for early elections after Italians voted no in a 2016 referendum on constitutional reform — prompting the departure of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi — but Mattarella refused to dissolve parliament.

The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.