Politics
on Piazzapulita •
According to Vannacci, “the Constitution is not anti-fascist”
On the programme Piazzapulita on La7, the leader of Futuro Nazionale stated that the Constitution "is anti-monarchist, not anti-fascist. Article 139 states that the republican form of government is the only acceptable one and that the re-establishment of that dissolved fascist party is prohibited".
13 NOV 26
Last updated: 09:37 AM
Translated by AI
Roberto Vannacci (photo: Ansa)
Roberto Vannacci has been going round for some time now claiming that anti-fascism is not a value of the Italian Republic, and that the Italian Constitution is anti-monarchist but not anti-fascist. He reiterated this on Thursday evening in the studio of Piazzapulita on La7.
According to Corrado Formigli, leader of Futuro Nazionale, the Constitution “is anti-monarchist, not anti-fascist. Article 139 states that the republican form of government is the only acceptable one and that the re-establishment of that dissolved fascist party is prohibited”.
The re-organisation, in any form whatsoever, of the dissolved Fascist party is prohibited. Notwithstanding Article 48, temporary restrictions on the right to vote and on eligibility for election shall be laid down by law, for a period not exceeding five years from the entry into force of the Constitution, in respect of those responsible for the Fascist regime.
The former general added: “The values of the Resistance are, in part, those that shaped Italy, so I don’t see why I should renounce them. But I recall that Italy was liberated more by the Allied forces than by the Resistance. Freedom and democracy, certainly, but anti-fascism is not a value and is not mentioned in the Constitution; there is no article that refers to it.” “Would you define fascism as an absolute evil, as Gianfranco Fini did?” asked the presenter of *Piazzapulita*. “No,” replied Vannacci.
The issue of the Constitution not being anti-fascist is a ‘long-standing’ one that was first introduced into public debate by a section of the political class within the Italian Social Movement as early as the mid-1950s. In April 2023, it was Ignazio La Russa who brought the subject up again, stating to La Repubblica that ‘there is no reference to anti-fascism in the Constitution’. Indeed, the only reference to the fascist regime is contained in Article XII of the Constitution; however, as the legal scholar Stefano Rodotà wrote, ‘it is reductive to focus solely on the number of times the term “fascism” appears in the Constitution. The very first article – “Italy is a democratic Republic, founded on work. Sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution’, is a clear indication that the fascist regime has been overcome”.