European Parliament
Gargani (PPE-DE ).
(IT)
Madam President, I feel that it is my duty to speak about an issue that regards the dramatic legal event in Italy affecting the current life senator, Giulio Andreotti. He is a public figure who is well known at European level, a figure who is at the forefront of Community affairs.
I waited for the Court of Cassation’s verdict before speaking on this issue. Even more urgently, I waited for the reasons given a few days ago by the Court of Cassation, in which it not only acquitted senator Andreotti of a torment which had lasted years and of preposterous accusations of no less than murder, but, in the reasons that I have just mentioned, it criticised the absurd action taken by the Court of Appeal in condemning him: personal theories which could not be backed by any evidence.
I therefore believe that the ordeal of this man, a life senator, one of the public figures to have made a significant contribution to the development of democracy in the country and one of the fathers of Europe, should be firmly highlighted, and that it must be made clear that a part of the Italian justice system, which is clearly ineffectual if not subversive, enforced this situation which has disturbed both Italy and Europe for 10 years.
I therefore urge you, Madam President, and I am sure that I am not just interpreting the will of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian democrats) and European Democrats, but also the opinion of the European Parliament as a whole, to give Senator Andreotti formal recognition for the clarity, the far-sightedness and the great democratic uprightness that distinguishes this valuable and useful European figure.

