"I believe that the constitutional powers of the President of the Republic are not affected in the slightest.
That is, none of the articles concerning his powers are touched. There is now a substantive Constitution which gives the President of the Republic greater powers than originally provided for in the Constitution, and a direct election of the Prime Minister could reduce the constant use of these additional powers, reduce them, not eliminate them. It would be an act of health for our Constitution, not an act of weakness because it would leave to the presidents of the Republic those tasks that the founding fathers largely wanted and that presidents have had to meritoriously expand over time to make up for the shortcomings of politics, including that of the need for politics to defend itself from the too short duration of governments".
This was said by the President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa during the greeting ceremony with journalists from the parliamentary press.
But his statement was criticized by the opposition.
With the deputy of the Democratic Party Federico Fornaro accusing La Russa of "having thrown off the mask and indicated what the real objective of the reform of the premiership is: to reduce the current powers of the President of the Republic, despite the fact that the vast majority of Italians, as evidenced by the polls, have repeatedly shown that they have full confidence in the work of the Quirinale". "La Russa has in fact said that the President of the Republic acts outside the Constitution. Such a direct attack on the head of state can only require immediate resignation," says AVS MP Angelo Bonelli.
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