Mattarella promulgates "paper day" but warns: "National days have increased dramatically, I urge them to be contained"

The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella promulgated the law on the "Establishment of the national paper recycling day", attaching a letter to the presidents of the Chambers in which - in the introduction - he explains that he has followed up on the request "there being no unconstitutionality" but nevertheless pointing out "that the number of laws establishing days to signal values, events, intentions, emotions or aspects of life is increasing dramatically, without any homogeneous criteria having emerged in this regard".

"In the last three Legislatures, thirty-six have been approved - by establishing the relevant days, of which twenty during this Legislature", underlines the head of State, warning that this has an "increasingly difficult, even improbable" impact on the tasks required, for example, of schools. "In addition to national holidays - he explains - the number of these days is now fifty-one: most of them - with a standardized formula - involve the promotion of initiatives by public offices and bodies, particularly schools, and sometimes also universities, providing that they carry out educational or dissemination activities on the topic of the individual law".

"Today, the law, approved by both Chambers, which establishes a national day for paper recycling was submitted to me for promulgation", we read in the letter sent to Fontana and La Russa: "since there are no obvious profiles of unconstitutionality, I proceeded with its promulgation, just as, a few days ago, it happened with the law establishing the national day of wonder. However, I would like to point out - underlines the head of State - that the number of laws that establish days to highlight values, events, intentions, emotions or aspects of life are rapidly increasing, without homogeneous criteria having emerged in this regard: in the last three Legislatures, thirty-six have been approved - establishing the relevant days, of which twenty during this Legislature".

"In addition to national holidays - explains Mattarella -, the number of these days is now fifty-one: most of them - with a standardized formula - involve the promotion of initiatives by public offices and bodies, particularly schools, and sometimes also universities, providing that they carry out educational or informative activities on the topic of the individual law. Among this high number of dedicated days there are some that carry out a significant task of remembrance or message of values ​​but not all of them appear to have the same caliber".

"It is also becoming increasingly difficult, even far-fetched - he highlights - to require that schools be able to carry out all the tasks entrusted to them by these numerous and different legal provisions, unless there is a thought to be given to affecting, by reducing it, the time actually allocated to the teaching of school subjects. I therefore feel the need to urge them to contain in reasonable terms the tendency to increase the dedicated days, the number of which, moreover, now makes it substantially impossible in practice for their provisions to be truly effective, which could be adequately pursued through instruments other than the law".