Much ado about nothing. We must resort to the title of Shakespeare’s comedy (starting from the elements of farce, in this case not at all comical) if we want to take stock of the sortie planned yesterday by the League, attacking Sergio Mattarella in the Republic Day.
Wanting to present themselves as the last guardians of national authority, they have contested his nod to the “European sovereignty”, evoked by reflecting on the imminent vote in the 27 EU countries which will “consecrate” it. Oh no, dear President, «if you really think that sovereignty belongs to the European Union instead of Italy, for coherence he should resign». This was proclaimed by Claudio Borghi. Imitated immediately afterwards by the leader Matteo Salvini, who repeated the same words, without however materializing the hypothesis that the head of state should abandon his position.
No reply from the Quirinaleafter such reckless (not to say subversive) declarations. We are in the election campaign and it is obvious that someone will raise a polemical tone just to get noticed. Silence from the Hill, therefore. And no cantankerous outburst as some hypothesized, even if this time the Northern League supporters exceeded every acceptable measure, also proving to be incompetent in legal and historical matters. Just unravel it Constitution to find, atarticle 11 (known for his repudiation of the war), that «Italy allows, on equal terms with other states, the limitations of sovereignty necessary for a system that ensures peace and justice between nations; promotes and encourages international organizations aimed at this purpose.”
This is how our entry into Europe was born. A participation that over time has translated – for us as for the other member countries – in transfers of freely decided shares of sovereignty. It happened, and Mattarella often recalled it, in the field of agricultural policies, competition, customs barriers, the common market and, in particular, with the creation and harmonization of economic and monetary management. An evolutionary process still in progress, given that for the moment we have not achieved the political union dreamed of by the founders (including Spinelli, Colorni, De Gasperi and Moro). But the evocation of “European sovereignty”for the journey already completed, it is not at all an escape forward.
All this prompted the president to remember together the Italian and European identityunderlining the sovereignty of the latter too, which fortunately keeps us away from concept of nation-state from which two world wars originated. Mattarella mentions this in a message to the armed forces, when he refers to the values of our “far-sighted and wise Constitution, fruit of the rebirth that began with the Liberation struggle”. And above all when he recalls that the «fathers of the country were aware of the risks and limits of closure in national contexts and dreamed an Italy open to Europeclose to people wherever they were in the world fighting for their freedoms».
