«No, absolutely not, Calenda himself reiterated it. The strength of a liberal party also lies in its ability to respect different opinions. I have never voted for an individual motion of no confidence based on a journalistic investigation, much less an individual motion of no confidence based on a journalistic investigation signed by the 5 Star Movement. For reasons of consistency with myself, I decided not to vote on the motion of no confidence based on elements emerging from a judicial journalistic investigation”. Thus the president of Action, Mara Carfagna, speaking with journalists in Lamezia Terme, with reference to possible problems within the party after the vote on the motion of no confidence in the Minister of Tourism Santanchè. «We have seen many times – continued Carfagna – judicial investigations end up in nothing and careers and reputations destroyed or ruined forever. In short, this is the reasoning that inspired me, my colleague Gelmini, my colleague Costa to take responsibility for our decision. But, in short, there was no disagreement, no rift because Carlo Calenda himself reiterated this principle of respect for different opinions in the interviews of the last few hours.”
On the premiership: “It empties Parliament and weakens the President of the Republic”
«We are not convinced by the premiership because it entails a hollowing out of the role of Parliament which would be a sort of appendage of the Prime Minister and also a clear weakening of the powers of the President of the Republic. «We – added Carfagna – continue to hear statements that go in the opposite direction. The President of the Republic is not affected in his powers, but even a child understands that when the source of legitimation of power changes it is clear that whoever is elected by the people still has greater power than whoever is indicated by Parliament. I believe that in a system like ours, in an Italian system, we have also seen it with the various crises that have followed one another, economic, financial, pandemics also linked to the war, it is essential to have a super partes arbitrator, who cannot be traced back to one political party rather than another. With the premiership, however – claimed the president of Action – a system would be institutionalized in which the prime minister becomes the camp of one faction against another and no longer the Prime Minister of the whole country and at the same time those who should be weakened represent national unity. So even the slogan “you decide” is actually a somewhat distorted and somewhat forced slogan because it gives a mandate to one person to govern for five years, emptying the truly representative body of popular sovereignty which is Parliament. So the citizen counts less, not more. because he gives a blank delegation to the person who will become the future Prime Minister. The Prime Minister will exercise that delegation for five years without being accountable to the citizens, while – concluded Carfagna – the parliamentarians who are accountable to the citizens are totally emptied of their prerogatives”.