Mattarella: “I promulgated laws that I thought were wrong but it was my duty to do so”

“I have happened to promulgate laws that I considered wrong, inappropriate but it is the duty of the President of the Republic to promulgate them. Only in the case of unconstitutionality do I have the duty not to promulgate them”. Thus the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarellain his speech at the ceremony for the 25th anniversary of the Permanent Observatory for Young Publishers.

Responding to a question from a student regarding the role of the Quirinale, Mattarella states: “Being an arbitrator means urging all other constitutional bodies of the State to respect the rules and means reminding everyone of the limits of their powers and the spheres in which they operate. This applies for the executive, legislative and judicial power”. And he adds: “Each power and organ of the State must know that it has limits that it must respect because the functions of each are not opposing fortresses to wrest power from one another, but elements of the Constitution called to collaborate, each with its own task and respecting that of others. It is the principle of check and balance.”

The President of the Republic, addressing the topic of digital technologies, explains: “These digital technologies are already among us, they are no different from us and are in our daily lives. Knowing the world in which we are immersed is fundamental to being able to orient ourselves and participate. Today’s changes are fast, impetuous and you are the generation called to interpret them. It is almost a species leap that is taking place. Of course, knowing how to type on a keyboard or enter a word into a search engine is not enough to be master of your time , a wealth of knowledge is essential.”

According to the head of state, “getting information to avoid manipulative traps is also a democratic right, which distinguishes the status of user from that of citizen, and it is a very important difference”. And he adds: “We know well that it is essential to ensure that the levels of democracy that our systems have achieved are not questioned, I won’t say eliminated but reduced, by technological tools that cannot be governed”.

Speaking about freedom of information, Mattarella explains: “The freedom to inform is the oxygen of the democratic life of a country. However, rules are needed to defend citizens from artificial news. Awareness is also needed, to remove the risk that the news is filtered by preconceptions or algorithms these dynamics are formed, regulated by ungovernable mechanisms, reality takes another path”.

The President of the Republic continues: “There is a percentage of people who think that the earth is flat, there is also a return of some diseases that seemed to have been eradicated, because the vaccination threshold has become low again. The risk is to rely to the web as if it were your trusted doctor. There is no need to run the risk of being captured by the smartphone”.

In his speech, the head of state also refers to artificial intelligence: “Artificial intelligence helps us enormously – he explains -, with opportunities in medicine, in health, in every field. But it must be oriented in these directions, it is necessary that there is reasonableness, it is a tool that changes our lives, even our way of reasoning. We need to equip ourselves to be prepared, so that it is a tool that guarantees greater freedom and opportunities, avoiding making us prisoners of a mechanism that impoverishes the conscience. human”.