In 1988 a petition was introduced (first signatory Sciascia) to propose Pannella (1) as the new EEC Commissioner. But the socialists and Christian democrats vetoed it.
ABSTRACT: Recalls the candidacy of Marco Pannella to the position of EEC Commissioner after Natali and Ripa di Meana resigned in 1988. The petition, submitted by Sciascia (2), obtained considerable consent, but was sunk by Martelli and Craxi (3) who vetoed it. One hundred and thirty parliamentarians endorsed the petition. Even Montanelli (4) agreed on Pannella's name. But all efforts were in vain. Too often Italian candidacies reflect party interests, and that is one of the reasons the Italians enjoy little pre stige in Brussels.
(1994 - IL QUOTIDIANO RADICALE, 23 November 1993)
30 October 1988: manoeuvres are under way for the replacement of the two Italian members of the EEC Commission, the Christian Democrat Lorenzo Natali and the socialist Carlo Ripa di Meana, who resigned. Pannella's name is proposed by surprise. Achille Occhetto, secretary of the PCI, declares: "We believe the next Italian member of the Commission should be chosen from a list of names that includes the name of Marco Pannella". On 5 November the text of a petition for the candidacy of the radical leader is disclosed; the first signatory is Leonardo Sciascia. The petition is signed by Norberto Bobbio, Carlo Bo, Edoardo Amaldi, Antonino Zichichi.
Says Giorgio Bocca: "I would like Marco Pannella, a man who has carried out many battles, to represent Italy at the EEC as a candidate of the opposition, as in all countries".
On 14 November, however, the vice secretary of the socialist Party, Martelli, considered to share the radical positions and culture, and who joined the Radical party years later, says he is against the idea of proposing Pannella: "Frankly I cannot see the reason" - he says in an interview - "for entrusting a responsibility of this kind to Pannella, who has no experience in government institutions. Without wanting to diminish his personality" - he continues - "he seems to be more a man of movement than of government". The radical leader answers: "I would be glad to meet the secretary of the PSI, Bettino Craxi, to dispel any misunderstanding on the question".
At 23 November the petition had been signed by 130 MPs; several exponents of the economy, finance, culture and show business also endorsed the petition. All efforts are in vain. On 25 November the Prime Minister, the Christian Democrat Ciriaco De Mita, appoints the two Italians that will sit in the EEC commission; Filippo Maria Pandolfi and Carlo Ripa di Meana. Equally in vain is the resolution submitted to the Chamber Foreign Affairs Commission, signed by Pli, Psdi, communists, Independent Left, Democrazia Proletaria, and which many Christian Democratic and republicans have also endorsed.
Among the supporters of Pannella's candidacy is the editor of "Il Giornale". This is the first time" - writes Indro Montanelli - "Pannella aspires to a position, which, among other things, he would be suitable for. After the death of Altiero Spinelli (5) , Pannella is probably the Italian MP who is most familiar with the community mechanisms. I ignore whether he is appreciated in the EEC. But when he tackles a problem he never gives up".
The episode is emblematic of the way in which the Italian parties often treat European politics. The positions as parliamentarians in Brussels or, as in this case, as Commissioner, are handed out as a compensation for politicians who have been dismissed or to reward party officials. Sometimes the people selected on this basis work fine. But too often the behaviour of the Italians is criticized by the other countries, and that is one of the reasons Italy enjoys so little prestige in the Community institutions.
Translator's notes
(1) PANNELLA MARCO. Pannella Giacinto, known as Marco. (Teramo 1930). Currently President of the Radical Party's Federal Council, which he is one of the founders of. At twenty national university representative of the Liberal Party, at twenty-two President of the UGI, the union of lay university students, at twenty-three President of the UNURI, national union of Italian university students. At twenty-four he advocates, in the context of the students' movement and of the Liberal party, the foundation of the new radical party, which arises in 1954 following the confluence of prestigious intellectuals and minor democratic political groups. He is active in the party, except for a period (1960-1963) in which he is correspondent for "Il Giorno" in Paris, where he established contacts with the Algerian resistance. Back in Italy, he commits himself to the reconstruction of the radical Party, dissolved by its leadership following the advent of the centre-left. Under his indisputable leadership, the party succeeds in
promoting (and winning) relevant civil rights battles, working for the introduction of divorce, conscientious objection, important reforms of family law, etc, in Italy. He struggles for the abrogation of the Concordat between Church and State. Arrested in Sofia in 1968 as he is demonstrating in defence of Czechoslovakia, which has been invaded by Stalin. He opens the party to the newly-born homosexual organizations (FUORI), promotes the formation of the first environmentalist groups. The new radical party organizes difficult campaigns, proposing several referendums (about twenty throughout the years) for the moralization of the country and of politics, against public funds to the parties, against nuclear plants, etc., but in particular for a deep renewal of the administration of justice. Because of these battles, all carried out with strictly nonviolent methods according to the Gandhian model - but Pannella's Gandhi is neither a mystic nor an ideologue; rather, an intransigent and yet flexible politician - h
e has been through trials which he has for the most part won. As of 1976, year in which he first runs for Parliament, he is always elected at the Chamber of Deputies, twice at the Senate, twice at the European Parliament. Several times candidates and local councillor in Rome, Naples, Trieste, Catania, where he carried out exemplary and demonstrative campaigns and initiatives. Whenever necessary, he has resorted to the weapon of the hunger strike, not only in Italy but also in Europe, in particular during the major campaign against world hunger, for which he mobilized one hundred Nobel laureates and preeminent personalities in the fields of science and culture in order to obtain a radical change in the management of the funds allotted to developing countries. On 30 September 1981 he obtains at the European parliament the passage of a resolution in this sense, and after it several other similar laws in the Italian and Belgian Parliament. In January 1987 he runs for President of the European Parliament, obtaini
ng 61 votes. Currently, as the radical party has pledged to no longer compete with its own lists in national elections, he is striving for the creation of a "transnational" cross-party, in view of a federal development of the United States of Europe and with the objective of promoting civil rights throughout the world.
(2) SCIASCIA LEONARDO. (Racalmuto 1921 - Palermo 1990). Writer, author of well-known novels ("Le parrocchie dor Regalpetr", 1956; "Il giorno della civetta" 1961; Todo modo, 1974), but also known as a polemist, he took active part in the Italian civil life for at least twenty years. During one legislature (1979-1983) he was also radical member of Parliament, actively intervening in civil rights campaigns (Tortora case, etc.).
(3) CRAXI BETTINO. (Milan 1934). Italian politician. Socialist, deputy since 1968. Appointed secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) in 1976, he operated important changes in the party's phisiognomy, turning it into the core of a wide project of institutional and other reforms and of unity of the socialist forces.
(4) MONTANELLI INDRO. (Fucecchio 1909). Italian journalist and writer. Known for his correspondences from Hungary in 1956. After writing for "Il Corriere della Sera", he left this newspaper in 1974, because he no longer agreed on its orientation, and founded "Il Giornale Nuovo", which he is since the respected editor of. Author of successful books.
(5) SPINELLI ALTIERO. ( Rome 1907 - 1982). Italian politician. During fascism, from 1929 to 1942, he was imprisoned as leader of the Italian Communist Youth. In 1942 co-author, with Ernesto Rossi, of the "Manifesto of Ventotene", which states that only a federal Europe can remove the return of fratricide wars in the European continent and give it back an international role. At the end of the war he founded, with Rossi, Eugenio Colorni and others, the European federalist Movement. After the crisis of the European Defence Community (1956), he became member of the European Commission, and followed the evolution of the Community structures. In 1979 he was elected member of the European Parliament on the ticket of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), becoming the directive mind in the realization of the draft treaty adopted by that parliament in 1984 and known as the "Spinelli Project".
