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POLITICS

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.

PROFILE: Who is Italian president Sergio Mattarella?

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.

READ ALSO: Ten things to know about the Italian political system

POLITICS

Meloni, Italy opposition head to hold unprecendented debate

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will spar with main opposition party leader Elly Schlein in an unprecedented debate on May 23 ahead of the European elections.

Published: 11 May 2024 13:15 CEST
Meloni, Italy opposition head to hold unprecendented debate

The debate — the first ever in Italy between a sitting prime minister and the head of the opposition — will be hosted on Rai1, the flagship station of the state broadcaster.

Meloni, head of the Brothers of Italy party, has been in power since October 2022 as part of a coalition with other right-wing parties.

Partly in response to losing that year’s election, Schlein was elected to lead the opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) in March 2023.

Both of them are at the top of their party’s lists for the June 8-9 European elections.

Neither will take their seats in the European Parliament however with Meloni planning to stay on as prime minister and Schlein preferring to remain a member of the Italian chamber of deputies.

Recent polls put Brothers of Italy at 27 percent in the European vote and the PD at 20 percent.

Apart from both being the first women in their respective positions, the two are polar opposites.

Meloni, 46, is a skilled orator with a modest suburban background. Her party stresses Italy’s Christian roots and has put the fight against immigration on top of its agenda.

Schlein, 39, who is in a couple with another woman, comes from an academic family and also has US and Swiss nationality. She is less comfortable with public speaking than her rival.

Meloni’s party is running on a campaign slogan of “Italy is changing Europe” while Schlein has focused on problems with Italy’s healthcare system.

Negotiations over organising the debate were arduous, both teams said.

Schlein has for months accused the right-wing governing coalition of interfering with coverage at Rai, which she says has become a “government megaphone”.

Italian leaders have long been accused of meddling with Rai, but insiders say intrusions have become more pronounced under Meloni.

Rai journalists have told AFP that investigative reporters have been pushed aside, pro-government commentators promoted, and programmes critical of members of the government cancelled or watered-down.

“I have worked at Rai for 20 years but I have never felt such pressure or seen as much censorship,” Enrica Agostini, a journalist at Rai News, told the Foreign Press Association in Rome.

Some Rai journalists held a 24-hour strike this week, though most programming continued as usual thanks to a union more favourable to the government not joining.

“TeleMeloni is the fruit of imagination of the left”, Brothers of Italy said this week on X.

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