The silent constitution: the presidency of Republic between constitutional provisions and actual powers

ABSTRACT

The living constitution was considerably transformed in the delicate and lengthy transition between the First and Second Italian Republics. These changes have also concerned the role and functions of the president of the Republic. In the last three legislatures, there has been much use of the renowned metaphor of the accordion of presidential power, which expands and contracts according to the role played by the parties in the political system. For although the Constitution has remained unchanged, this period has seen two important ‘exceptional’ responses by presidents to serious political crises: first, the appointment of prime ministers from outside of Parliament and the parties, the so-called governments of the president; and second, the second terms of Giorgio Napolitano in April 2013 and Sergio Mattarella in January 2022. But is this extreme expansion of the accordion really sufficient to demonstrate that we have stronger presidencies? An in-depth analysis of Napolitano’s and Mattarella’s responses to the critical junctures in the political system in fact paints a more complex picture. This article is divided into four parts. The first part analyses the two ‘longest presidencies’ from the perspective of the presidentialisation of the political system. The second outlines the key critical phases of Napolitano’s and Mattarella’s periods in office, with a focus on their ‘governing’ function, as permitted by the silent constitution. The third focuses on the dynamics of the second elections. Finally, the fourth highlights the most significant transformations within the silent constitution over this period.

KEYWORDS:

• Italian president of the Republic
• form of government
• re-election
• material constitution
• living constitution

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Jurists’ main concerns were that the election of the Prime Minister to the presidency would have brought about a temporary vacuum at the top of the executive that is not permitted by Law 400/1988 on the organization of the executive. Furthermore, it would have created a government crisis at the same time as the swearing in, by Parliament, of the new president, or alternatively Mattarella would have had to manage the government crisis (Grisolia 2022; Furlan 2021).

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Annarita Criscitiello

Annarita Criscitiello teaches Italian political system and Political language analysis at the University of Naples Federico II. Her main research interests are executives, presidential politics, political parties, concept analysis.