For the President Emeritus of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano it is legitimate not to go and vote in the referendum on drilling on 17 April: "If the Constitution provides that the non-participation of the majority of those entitled is grounds for nullity - said the former head of state in an interview with La Repubblica - do not go voting is a way of expressing oneself on the inconsistency of the referendum initiative”.
Napolitano's is an indirect but very significant reply to the president of the Constitutional Court, Paolo Grossi who in recent days had argued that "voting is a duty".
Napolitano, who does not know if he will go to vote on Sunday because he is away on a trip to London, adds: “I find the arguments on the inconsistency and speciousness of this referendum initiative persuasive. You cannot give symbolic meanings to a referendum. You rule on specific questions that should be well founded. That's not the case".
About the relationship between politics and justice after the Potenza investigation, Napolitano states: “I see something very confused in the relationship between politics and justice. And it is a discourse that cannot get bogged down around wiretapped conversations or anonymous memorials. The proceedings of any prosecution must go ahead in the rigorous assessment of criminal responsibilities, where there are, and in the absolute distinction from the responsibilities of the executive and legislative power".
