by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

In Italy, according to the Constitution, Article 87, the President of the Council of Ministers — who in other nations is called the Prime Minister — can emanate decrees with have force of law in times of urgency.  It is on this basis that Giuseppe Conte has responded to the co-called COVID-19 Pandemic.

But his efforts to establish a police state of a kind only George Orwell might have dreamed of is slowing being zapped into oblivion by the same Constitution he quotes to justify his tyrannical control of everything in Italy, from handshakes to visiting grandma, from which part of society is deemed essential and which part can be crushed out of existence: the Church and small businesses in the second category.

Article 77 reads in the original:

Il Governo non puo` , senza delegazione delle Camere [76], emanare decreti che abbiano valore di legge ordinaria.

Quando, in casi straordinari di necessita` e di urgenza, il Governo adotta, sotto la sua responsabilita` , provvedimenti provvisori con forza di legge, deve il giorno stesso presentarli per la conversione alle Camere che, anche se sciolte, sono appositamente convocate e si riuniscono entro cinque giorni [612, 622].

I decreti perdono efficacia sin dall’inizio, se non sono convertiti in legge entro sessanta giorni dalla loro pubblicazione. Le Camere possono tuttavia regolare con legge i rapporti giuridici sorti sulla base dei decreti non convertiti.

Which in English would be:

The Government cannot, without delegation of the House [Article 76], emanate decrees which have the force of ordinary law.

When, in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency, the Government adopts, under its own responsibility, provisional provisions with the force of law, it must the same day present them for conversion into law to the Houses of Parliament which, even if they are in recess, are duly convoked and are summons within 5 days [Articles 612 & 622].

The decrees lose efficacy retroactively, if they have not been converted into law withing 60 days from their publication.  The Houses of Parliament can, however, regulate with laws the juridical relations which arises on the basis of decrees which are not so converted.

So far, the Italian Parliament has converted none of the decrees of Giuseppe Conte or of his government into law. This means that as 60 days pass for the publication of each of them, they not only lose all force of law, but they lose all legitimacy which they had from the day of their publication, and that ALL the actions which the police took to enforce them become illegal and crimes against the persons so fined or arrested or imprisoned.

To give himself a cover, Giuseppe Conte has been issuing new decrees each month, so as to maintain the claim to power. But each month the Parliament refuses to convert them into law, because if they did, it would be the end of their political careers, so odious these Corona decrees are with the people.

And indeed, if the Parliament has refused to convert the first of the decrees into law, it remains a political de facto state, that they will not convert the others. And thus the entire Corona Tyranny has become not only unconstitutional in what it attempts to force upon citizens, but illegal in its very form of execution.

I had a short conversation with a woman who is a member of the Italian State Police the other night. I mentioned Article 77 to her and though she claimed to be a lawyer, she refused it means what it says. She says I have to read it again and in the right way.

I, myself, think that there will come the day, and that day is fast approaching, when policewomen like her will wish they had listened to me, as they face 5 years in prison for the violation of the constitutional rights of each citizen they so violated. For each one. That means more than life in prison for most of the police of Italy right now.

The chief Corona Decree of March 8, 2020 expired last night. Last night, I did not see police stop anyone.

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