Add the Gazzetta del Sud as a source
The story of Mario Roggero ends up on the political table and the proposal for a pardon for him, which quickly saw the Keeper of the Seals activated, at the moment only has the effect of causing a state of high tension between the government and the Colle. A few hours after the final sentence almost 15 years later, the jeweler’s case ends up in the rooms of the Quirinale, where the head of Justice Carlo Nordio is summoned by Sergio Mattarella, who points out the limits of the minister’s powers in terms of granting pardons: a power – as specified in a note from the Presidency itself – which the Constitution reserves exclusively to the President of the Republic as confirmed by the Constitutional Court in a 2006 ruling. This is the epilogue of a political day spent in sound of declarations and chases between majority parties, all in defense of the 72-year-old who will have to go to prison in the next few hours. No official comment was made by sources at Palazzo Chigi, consulted on the matter. But informally in the upper echelons of the government there is talk of political sharing with Via Arenula in asking for a pardon for Roggero. And in majority circles the intervention of the Head of State is defined as an “exaggeration”. So much so that the Democratic Party asked whether Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was not informed of her minister’s moves. It all starts with the announcement by the center-right group leaders of the Chamber and Senate of a collection of signatures from all the parliamentarians of their groups, and from all those who wish to sign, to request Roggero’s pardon from the Ministry of Justice.
“We believe – they explain – that, beyond the legal aspects, what happened to him deserves an immediate response”. Salvini relaunches and assures that he is “available to help him and his family” without “excluding anything a priori”. Not even a candidacy from the jeweller: “we are evaluating – he announces – whether the legislation allows it”. And the melonian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto adds: “I think every possibility must be explored so that he can return home” because what happened in Roggero «is unfair, incomprehensible and also difficult to accept». The deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, also supports the pardon proposal. Meanwhile, the Vannaccia supporters tease the majority, accusing them of hypocrisy: «To really help Roggero it was necessary to vote on the National Future amendment presented to the last security decree which envisaged overcoming the proportionality relationship between defense and offence. But the entire centre-right, including the League, voted against.” In the afternoon, sources from the Undersecretary of Justice Alberto Balboni, on behalf of the FdI, announced that Carlo Nordio had started the investigation aimed at granting the pardon.
A few hours pass and the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella receives the minister making his clarifications. Faced with questions about the President’s irritation, Quirinale sources explain that it is not a question of merit, also because the motivation for the Supreme Court ruling has not yet been made known and therefore the discussion on whether or not the pardon is granted is absolutely premature. But it is strictly a question of method, which affects the powers of the President of the Republic, as designed by the Constitution. Mattarella would have repeated, during the conversation, the words of Luigi Einaudi: «It is the duty of the President of the Republic to avoid setting precedents, thanks to which it happens or appears to happen that he does not pass on to his successor the faculties that the Constitution attributes to him, immune from any flaw». Nordio cashes in, but has the support and sharing of the majority for a decision perhaps ‘come from above – it is remarked in opposition circles – and not managed only in Via Arenula. According to some centre-left sources, the majority would have tried to rush into a political move to avoid a further shift in consensus towards Vannacci: hence the pressure on the Keeper of the Seals to take action for the investigation. Once this has been completed, based on the results the minister will provide his non-binding opinion and ultimately the decision to transmit the document to the President of the Republic could be taken by the ministry. However, today he made himself heard by recalling his prerogatives.