Mattarella Manzoni used to show the dangers of judgment by following only opinion polls

The President of the Republic explained that defending the national interest contradicts nationalism, recalling how dangerous it is to have “ruling classes” who are more willing to “indulge in their electoral base and their changing moods” than to build and “determine the future.” Which in the case of Italy goes through Pnrr

“Common sense was there, but it was hidden, fear of common sense.” Yesterday, the President of the Republic clearly indicated how easy it was to locate the source of his concern in an idea that ran counter to the defense of the national interest: nationalism. Yesterday, the Head of State chose to use the pretext of celebrating the 150th anniversary of the death of Alessandro Manzoni to put some order in the political debate and show the correct coordinates to use in order not to deviate from the scope of good governance. . Via Manzoni, Mattarella decried “the dangers to which democratic societies are exposed today in the face of the pervasive distortion and aggressive use of social media”.

He pointed out how dangerous it was for the “ruling classes” to be more willing to “indulge their electoral base and change its mood.” than to “devote himself to building large-scale policies capable of withstanding the years and drawing the future.” He called on politics to remember how much to import the lesson of Manzoni who “was looking forward to a unified Italy, which was not a mere geographical expression, a cold addition to the various nations and states”. He noted that “in Manzoni’s idea of ​​liberty, justice, equality and solidarity one can envisage an anticipation of the basic vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948”, which “identifies the human person in himself, without any, as the bearer of rights, blocking the way for nefarious notions of existing sovereignty”. on sweat.”

To read Mattarella’s statements, as some would do today, as criticisms against the government, is an exaggeration. But the fact that the head of state has felt the need to re-establish aloud key points for consideration in order to fight populism new and old is a sign of a willingness to bring an issue crucial for the future back to the center of Italy’s discussion. And if there is concern in the head of the thoughts of the head of state, then this concern can only coincide with the file that coincides, according to Mattarella, with the defense of the national interest: the plan for national recovery and resilience. (banner). If we want to exaggerate the similarities, which we obviously pretend not to do, we can say that the head of state has been watching for months the plan that should definitively marry Italy and Europe (Pnrr) with the same alarming look. Those who note, among the pages of “Promisi Spozzi”, the attempt of Don Rodrigo and Don Abbondio to keep Renzo away from Lucia.

But if we want to be less complicated, we can put it more simply. For months, Mattarella has been reminding us that building the homeland of the future depends on the implementation of the Pnrr and that impeding the implementation of that plan means not “dedicating ourselves to building large-scale policies, capable of withstanding the years and defining the future”. And who knows what the head of state must have thought last week when he read a letter sent by Raffaele Vito to all the Italian administrations participating in Pnrr – in which Vito only now asked to “formalize a list of investments for which there are delays or difficulties such as jeopardizing full completion to compromise Pnrr targets” – he got confirmation that Italy had not yet submitted a formal single line to the European Commission explaining how the government would like to change the Pnrr. It is difficult to say whether Mattarella’s speech yesterday was directed at someone. However, it’s hard not to think what the head of state was referring to with this quote from Promici Spozi used yesterday to frame his anti-populist manifesto: But he hid out of fear of common sense. Obvious coordinates: This wedding is really busy.