The days that precede the traditional end-of-year speech by the President of the Republic are always complex days for the Quirinale, but this year they are even more so. These are hours of hard work to polish the text of the last television appointment with the Italians, accompanied, however, by the concern for the pandemic emergency which is getting worse without interruption. But above all, moments forcibly oriented towards the month of January, the near future of the Republic, the election of the successor and the stability of the system. There is an inevitably serious atmosphere that Sergio Mattarella perceives - perhaps he suffers,they would specify to Colle - fueled by the continuous pressures of politics that through very confidential telephone calls and discreet contacts would like to acquire some certainties where everything goes wrong in the great game of the Quirinale. Most of the parties still have not resigned themselves to leaving the current head of state completely out of the puzzle of the election, as if to keep in the toolbox the only screwdriver capable of repairing the smoking machine at the last second.
But Sergio Mattarella is increasingly determined in his belief that his encore would no longer be an exception and would become the norm. And then, what should happen? That the whole parliamentary arc, including Giorgia Meloni, is convinced that a Mattarella bis is the best for the Republic just because Mario Draghi does not have to leave Palazzo Chigi? Questions that circulate outside the Quirinale but that persist annoying the president and therefore reinforcing his conviction. The fact remains that in recent days there is little and the debate seems to be oriented more than the election of the new head of state to how to prevent the government from collapsing by leading the country to very risky early elections. Who better than Mario Draghi, many observe, could give guarantees from the Quirinale that no, a crisis cannot really open,recalling the parties to a collective responsibility which is then at the basis of its executive? Without forgetting that it was Mattarella himself who convinced Draghi to drink the bittersweet glass of the guide of Palazzo Chigi with a broad coalition government and therefore inevitably with a strong institutional compromise.
The silence of the Quirinale on the contents of the President's last speech is therefore understandable. Here then is that the only certainties unfold on three concepts: responsibility, balance and encouragement. Individual responsibility in facing this infinite health crisis and political responsibility in knowing how to read the devastating impact on citizens and the economy; balance of a very hard seven years from which Mattarella takes his leave with honor and the esteem of the Italians; an encouragement that is a bit the fil rouge of his final presidency, because Mattarella closes his commitment, proud of the country's response, of being on the march despite everything. A path that must not be interrupted for partisan interests or, even less, for premature electoral calculations of the parties.Sergio Mattarella has never made invasions in the fields of others, very respectful of the division of constitutional powers. And he certainly won't do it in his farewell to the Italians. But it is enough to reread all his latest interventions to know how the president sees it. And certainly no one can be prevented from thinking about what is best for the Republic, much less those who have served it in so many roles for a lifetime.