Stéphane Mourlane

 

Giulio Andreotti symbolized the Catholic hegemony in the practice of authority as well as the turpitude that was associated with him in Italy during the thirty years following World War II. He was born in Rome on January 14, 1919. Since the beginning of his law studies, he registered in the Catholic University Federation; which was one of the rare youth associations that were not under the control of the Fascist regime. During the war, he participated in organizing the work of the Christian Democrats in the prospect of a restoration of democracy, once Mussolini was overthrown. Naturally, he became a member in the constituent Assembly in 1946 and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1948; he kept his position until 1991 when he was appointed as senator for life. Since the beginning of his political involvement, this man of faith acquired favors from the Vatican that led him to be appointed as a sub-secretary of State at the presidency of the Council in the first Gasperi governments. During his long, rich career in the ministry, he maintained a privileged relationship with the popes, which according to the critics, limited his independence. This close relationship with the Vatican has certainly helped the career of Giulio Andreotti both within the Christian Democratic Party and in the corridors of power. Althought he was never leader of the party, he was nevertheless one of its key figures, skillfully playing the currents that prevail; the currents that he used to drive were those of the right wing of the party, especially in 1950-1960 when they wanted to counterbalance the opening to the left wing that was defended and practiced by Fanfani and Amintore Aldo Moro. At the government level, Andreotti held successively and alternately the main ministerial portfolios: Interior, at only 34 years old, Defense for eight times, Foreign Affairs for five times, and Finance twice. He also took the presidency of the government seven times (1972-1973, 1976-1979 and 1989-1992). It is difficult to draw an ideological or political guideline in this course where contradictions abound. Thus, He who was opposed to opening to the left and displayed a fierce anticommunism ensured the direction of a government taking advantage of the "historical compromise" between the Christian Democrats and Communists in the mid-1970s. In foreign policy, Andreotti, who was closely linked to the Atlantic Alliance, was no less an advocate of a political philo-Arab that led Italy to assert greater autonomy with respect to its Western allies.

The longevity of the career of Giulio Andreotti was more remarkable because it was strongly impregnated with the odor of scandal. The lifting of his parliamentary immunity was requested 27 times. In the various cases that posed question marks about his activities, sometimes in the same bundle, corruption, secret actions smell and frequenting mafia. Since the 1950s, while he held the Ministry of Finance, he was concerned in an investigation about the fraudulent bank Giuffrè. Subsequently, in the Ministry of Defence, he was involved in major scandal files installed by the SIFAR (Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare) on the country's leaders and Piano Solo, a coup d’Etat project by the Director of the Military Police, the neo-Fascist Giovanni De Lorenzo, in case the Communists came to power. His attitude caractirized by passivity when the Red Brigades kidnapped and later assassinated Aldo Moro aroused many questions about possible compromises. Andreotti's name was often associated with the P2 (Propaganda due), a secret organization removed from the Grand Orient of Italy in 1976 after being suspected of having participated alongside of a small group of far-right "strategy of tension" that, with the left-wing terrorism, plunged Italy into violence during the years of lead (1960-1980). The P2 was also involved in criminal cases related to the mafia. The shadow of the mafia also flat on the career of Andreotti. In the late 1980s, when he ran for the Presidency of the Republic, Andreotti was accused of having forged close ties with the Mafia to the point of being seen as a protector. It was even believed that he played a role behind the scenes in the murder of journalist Mino Pecorelli in 1979 and the general of riflemen Alberto Dalla Chiesa in 1982. These charges led him to be brought before the court when almost the whole ruling political class had to face judges under the operation “Clean Hands” (mani pulite). Andreotti then found himelf on the dock in 1996 in Perugia and Palermo. His skillful defense and lack of tangible evidence, however, have led to an acquittal. In 2004, the Court of Cassation put an end to the legal troubles of the former Presedient of Council, confirming a controversial verdict rendered in 2003 by the Court of Appeal, acquitting him partly from the charge of complicity to Cosa Nostra sponsors and mafia associations. Despite denials - "Punic Wars aside, I was accused in my life everything that happened in Italy," said he in a s very sharp rhetoric- many areas remain shadowy in the life of the man nicknamed willingly "the Divine" (Il Divo) and who seems to be moved by nothing at all.

 

Philippe Foro, « Le procès Andreotti en Italie », Cahiers d’Histoire immédiate, n°22, automne 2002 (http://w3.grhi.univ-tlse2.fr/cahier/select_articles/foro.htm)

Giorgio Galli, Mezzo secolo di DC 1943-1993. Da De Gasperi a Mario Segni, Milano, Rizzoli, 1993.

Massimo Franco, Andreotti. La vita di un uomo politico, la storia di un'epoca, Milano, Mondadori, 2008

Nicola Tranfaglia, La sentenza Andreotti. Politica, mafia e giustizia nell'Italia contemporanea, Milano, Garzanti, 2001