Presentation

of the book G. Buonomo, Lo scudo di cartone (The shield

of cardboard), Rubbettino ed., 2015, p. 254.

The alternative - between fraud and abuse of the parliamentary privilege
- is perceived, in Italy, with a greater pathos of many other modern
democracies. It can be explained by the exasperation of the parliamentary
Republic, only recently corrected by a electoral system; it can be
explained by the lack of public spirit of many holders of public functions,
ready to bend them for private or not legitimate aims. It can be explained
by the change in the traditional border between politics and justice, since
the authorization to proceed was abolished in 1993, but in the meanwhile
it has been introduced an authorization on wiretaps difficult to manage.
The explanation, which favors the author of this book, is instead that it is
a byproduct of the dogma of the sovereignty of Parliament. In the British
parliamentarianism that was the role of judicial review, exercised in the
Palace of Westminster; in the Italian peninsula it has been evolving
differently, and do not yet know how to get out.
The book explains paths through which Italy came to this slow evolution,
and what are the tools to move forward according to the principles of
rule of law. The result will be not only more clarity in the use of the
parliamentary privilege; but it will also avoid that - on important matters
of the institutional life (such as the regulation of lobbyists, conflict of
interest, the contributions to the groups, equal access to the media
during the election campaign, the requirements for appointments to the
independent Authorities) - the lack of protection leads the injured parties
to report to international bodies lack of access to a judge in the Italian
legal system.

http://www.store.rubbettinoeditore.it/lo-scudo-di-
cartone.html

https://independent.academia.edu/GiampieroBuonomo
/Lo-scudo-di-cartone