Roggero, legal costs, Rai and No Tav: Mattarella uses the press to take a swipe at the political parties

From the right’s outcry over Mario Roggero to the prolonged reluctance of much of the left to condemn the No Tav violence, via Europe, defence spending, Rai, verbal aggression and the overly casual use of AI. For the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, the ‘ventaglio’ – the customary summer press conference to wish everyone a happy summer – has become an opportunity to remind the political parties of their responsibilities on those issues which, on both the right and the left, tend to be treated too lightly. Speaking to journalists, Mattarella pointed out that he – unlike the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate – is “uninvolved in the political debate between the various political forces” and that, for this reason, “it is not my role to pass judgement on political issues”, but rather “to highlight needs and encourage reflection”. Having made this point, he began a long list of “reflections” that came across as a dressing-down directed more or less at all the parties.

The first remark will have pricked up the ears of the right, from Vannacchi’s supporters to the League and FdI. When questioned by the president of the parliamentary press association, Alfonso Raimo, Mattarella commented on the debate regarding self-defence that followed the conviction of jeweller Mario Roggero. And he did so in very strong terms: “In a civilised, orderly society that offers reassurance to its citizens,” he said, “individual behaviour must respect the common rules – those of the law. If, on the other hand, this principle were turned on its head and it were thought that the rules of the law should adapt to individual, occasional behaviour, changing their content from time to time, on a case-by-case basis, this would not strengthen security but would amount to the state abdicating its responsibilities.”

The President of the Colle was even harsher in his comments on the events of last weekend at the TAV construction site in Val di Susa. “It is unacceptable,” he said, “for the belief to take hold that, if one’s views are in the minority within society, the use of violence is justifiable. What happened on Saturday in Val di Susa is unacceptable: the very foundations of democratic coexistence are at stake.” And here the President added something that to some sounded like a rebuke to those on the left – including the secretary of the PD, Elly Schlein – who took a little too long to condemn the violence. “No hesitation or caution,” added Mattarella, “is acceptable when it comes to condemning and combating such aggressive behaviour. Violence is a lethal virus for democracy and for social life. Those who practise it, those who preach it, and those who justify it are all attacking the Constitution.”

Nor could there be any lack of a warning to all those so-called pacifists who, on both the left and the right, oppose the use of SAFE funds for rearmament: “The establishment of an effective common European defence,” said the president, “poses no threat to anyone; it is not aimed at war: on the contrary, it is a means of guaranteeing peace.”

A warning (not the first from the Quirinale) has also been issued regarding the deadlock surrounding Rai, both in relation to the reform intended to overhaul the public service broadcasting system and the deadlock over the appointment of the president, which led, in recent weeks, to the mass resignation of opposition members from the parliamentary Supervisory Committee: “The essential role of news in democratic systems, particularly that of public service broadcasters, must be free from ambiguity,” said Mattarella. “It is to be hoped that, in the meantime, the paralysis of the public radio and television system – caused by the deadlock in the functioning of the Parliamentary Commission for the General Policy and Oversight of Radio and Television Services – will finally be resolved.” He then criticised the failure to transpose the European Media Freedom Act: “The European regulation on media freedom came into force on 8 August 2025; the delay, including in Italy, in fully transposing provisions to which the EU governments themselves and Members of the European Parliament, representing the various Member States, contributed, is difficult to understand.”

And on the subject of Europe, the message has also come across clearly. This is particularly true on the right, where few (including Giorgia Meloni) would wish to revise the treaties to allow the Union greater room for manoeuvre. Mattarella noted: “I am well aware that, in various fields, the Union must become more dynamic. This is another reason why it was unwise to let the massive effort promoted by the European Parliament in 2022 – under the presidency of David Sassoli – with the Conference on the Future of Europe fall by the wayside; an initiative that had involved millions of European citizens. Abandoning the idea of a new European Convention to tackle the reform of the Treaties was a serious mistake.” And it was precisely on the issue of revising the Treaties that the President launched his attack on those on the right who are holding things back: “I am well aware of the criticism levelled at the Union for the lack of impact of its actions – criticism levelled relentlessly, above all, by those who, in every way and under all circumstances, stand in the way of more effective decision-making and operational tools.”

Dal Colle could not fail to mention the “worrying phenomenon of abstention” and to speak out against “excessive verbal aggression” in the run-up to the elections. “Naturally,” said the President, “I constantly hope that political life will be conducted with mutual respect; without inappropriate verbal aggression, which is often unwarranted and, in my view, also counterproductive” and that “the electoral tensions – which, to tell the truth, are still rather untimely – do not divert attention from the problems affecting the daily lives of our fellow citizens and do not lead to a distortion of the reality of the issues”.

Mattarella then also appealed to journalists, urging them to be mindful of the use of artificial intelligence: “Cloned news stories, artificially generated by machines. Destined to be reproduced endlessly on the web, without any verification, and further multiplied by machine translation tools: can we really believe that they enrich the cultural and informational landscape? Can there even be such a thing as news without journalists?”, asked the President. “News is not a clone of itself. It is not a caricature of Dolly the sheep.”