Ministers of the Meloni government: did they take the wrong oath?

During the oath of the new government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Melonisome observers have criticized the use of the verb observe in the oath formula by some ministers, judging it wrongwhich took place at Quirinale on the morning of Saturday 22 October in the presence of President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. The ministers, according to journalists and political commentators, should instead have said “observe” to stick to the correct formula.

The law formula

In this case, however, whoever used the verb observe is right. Enough in fact refer to law 400 of 1988, that governs the activity of the government and develops the organization of the presidency of the Council of Ministers. In Article 1, paragraph 3, we read the correct formula of the oath that the President of the Council of Ministers and the ministers take in the hands of the President of the Republic: “I swear to be loyal to the Republic, to loyally observe the Constitution and the laws and to exercise my functions in the exclusive interest of the nation“.

That'”observe“, in the correction of the observers, would tie the Constitution to the Republic. However, it is not foreseen by the official formula. Nor can one think of an error in the printing of the tickets delivered to the ministers with the formula to be recited. As the chroniclers present at the ceremony were able to verify, the leaflets reported the formula as per the 1988 law. Therefore, there was no mistake in carrying out the ceremony at the Quirinale.

The oath of the Meloni government

The ceremony that officially confers full functions to the new executive was held at the Quirinale, in front of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella

The settlement of the government

The formation of the Meloni government is one of the most quick of Italian history, arriving at a gap of only 27 days between elections, held last September 25, and the first oath. However, she failed to break the 24-day record of the fourth Berlusconi government in 2008, from which, however, she has recovered in its list of ministers figures such as Raffaele Fitto, Eugenia Roccella, Guido Crosetto, Roberto Calderoli and Sebastiano Musumeci as ministers and ministers, already under-secretaries or ministers at the time.