Mattarella signs paper recycling day law, warns Parliament over too many national days
On 15 October 2026 President Sergio Mattarella promulgated the law creating a national paper recycling day, while urging Parliament to limit the growing number of commemorative days, which he counted at 51 beyond national holidays.
The law and the letter
On 15 October 2026 President Sergio Mattarella promulgated the law establishing a national day for paper recycling, a text the Senate had sent to the presidency on 12 October. In a letter to Senate President Ignazio La Russa and Chamber of Deputies President Lorenzo Fontana, he said the text raised no evident constitutional problems, which is why he signed it. He pointed out that a few days earlier he had also promulgated the law creating a national day of wonder. The letter makes clear that the signature did not signal approval of the trend behind these laws.
- Senate transmits the paper recycling day law to the presidency
- Mattarella promulgates the law and sends his letter to the two chamber presidents
A warning on the growing number of days
Mattarella wrote that laws creating days to mark values, events, purposes, emotions or aspects of life are multiplying quickly, without shared criteria behind them. Over the last three legislatures, 36 such laws were approved, 20 of them in the current one. Counting days beyond the national holidays, he reported 51 in total. Most follow a standardized formula, calling on public offices and bodies, especially schools and sometimes universities, to run teaching or outreach activities on the subject of each law. He acknowledged that some of these days carry a meaningful message of remembrance or values, but said not all of them have the same weight.
He then turned to the chambers with a direct appeal.
I therefore feel the need to urge that the trend toward adding dedicated days be contained within reasonable limits.
The burden on schools
The president's main concern is the school system, which is asked to organize a growing number of initiatives that can take time away from ordinary lessons. He wrote that it has become harder, and in his words even implausible, to expect schools to carry out every task these numerous and varied laws assign them, unless the hours devoted to teaching school subjects were cut. He framed the problem as one of practical capacity rather than of the value of individual causes. In his view, the aims behind these days could be pursued through instruments other than legislation.
He put the consequence in the sharpest terms of the letter.
The number of these days now makes genuine effectiveness of their provisions substantially impossible in practice.
His letter ends by urging the chambers to keep the growth in dedicated days within reasonable bounds.