The marginalisation of Parliament in facing the Coronavirus emergency: what about democracy in Italy?

In Italy, lacking a well-defined framework regulating emergency, COVID-19 was managed, at least at the first stage, through law decrees implemented by decrees of the President of the Council of Ministers (PCM). Hence, in the midst of a severe health crisis, the Executive – and in particular its head, the PCM – acted as the real dominus of the situation. How is this scenario impacting on democratic principles? Will the Italian democracy be weakened, at the end of the Coronavirus emergency? In order to answer these questions, this work discusses two main issues. First, the marginalization of Parliament – a typical feature of emergency times – is even worsened since convening the Chambers implies the risk of spreading the infection, and solutions as remote voting are regarded cautiously. Excluding Parliament entails reduced checks over the Executive and its activities, with effects on democracy and its principles. Second, the acts of the Executive strongly impact on rights, although some of them – the decrees of the PCM – do not have the same legal force as law (a requirement that the Italian Constitution imposes to limit some rights and freedoms it guarantees). Being a key feature of any democratic system, the protection of rights should not be disregarded, even in exceptional times.