Volodymyr Zelensky guest of Sanremo 2023 divides Italian politics. From Matteo Salvini to Giuseppe Conte, there are several party leaders and exponents who have raised doubts, expressed opposition or welcomed the participation of the Ukrainian president in the Italian song festival. A participation that obviously will not be in attendance: Zelensky will ‘attend’ through a video message on the air before the final play-off between the top five classified for victory.
One of the first to intervene, questioned yesterday on the subject, was the Northern League leader Matthew Salvini. From Sanremo 2023, you explained, “they will have made their assessments, what I hope is that the war ends as soon as possible and then that the stage of the city of flowers remains reserved for music is something that I think everyone expects”. “I am a lover of the old-fashioned festival – Salvini remarked -. I’m not saying who I hope will win, otherwise I will damage it and will certainly come last. I have my preferences but in the singing field, not in other fields. I love Italian song. Zelensky? I don’t know how he sings, I have other preferences”. Then, replying to those who asked him if he deems Zelensky’s intervention inappropriate, Salvini explained: “I don’t judge. It is the last week of the electoral campaign, if I have time to watch Rai Uno it will be to listen to songs, not to listen to anything else “. As for the risk of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, “we hope it will end as soon as possible – noted Salvini – we are in line with Western positions. And let’s hope that Sanremo remains the festival of Italian song and nothing else”. However, the position of the leader of the League was clearer a few hours later: “If I have ten minutes to see the Sanremo Festival, I will see the songs, not Zelensky. If Zelensky has time to go to the Oscars or the Sanremo, he knows it. Every context deserves seriousness, even Sanremo. I wonder how appropriate it is for the Italian song festival to have a moment with the war and the deaths in progress, it doesn’t seem to me that things are getting along”, the words of the minister and deputy premier guest of Lilli Gruber at Otto e mezzo on La7.
“I was very happy when President Fico took the initiative to invite President Zelensky to speak in the Italian Parliament. I don’t honestly believe, however, that it is so necessary to have President Zelensky in such a light-hearted context as that of Sanremo” , the position of the president of the M5S Joseph Conte.
“Zelensky in Sanremo? I think it could be a moment of great involvement, clarification, information, as it has always been for the Festival, I think it is a positive fact”, he explains instead Fabio Rampellivice president of the Chamber of Fdi, guest of Agorà, on Rai 3.
“There are few doubts about our line of support for Ukraine. However, I consider it a mistake to combine a musical event with the message of the President of a country at war”, tweeted the leader of Action Charles Calenda. “There are suitable contexts for a dramatic message such as war and others that are not. I don’t think it would help Zelensky, a good president who is defending his country” to intervene “between one song and another. I understand the meaning, that is the idea of reaching as many people as possible. But I think the fact prevails that that context there devalues what is happening in Ukraine”, he later stated to Tagadà on La7, adding: “It would seem a bit out of context to me”.
“Zelensky’s announced presence at the Sanremo Festival is inopportune and appears mere war propaganda”, the Twitter post by Louis de Magistris, spokesman for Unione Popolare and former mayor of Naples. “If you want to support the Ukrainian people and finally talk about peace and not just weapons and war – adds de Magistris – give your voice, sung or spoken, to a Ukrainian and a Russian mother”.
“I think it is important that Italians listen to the direct testimony of those in Ukraine who are leading the resistance to the brutal and unmotivated Russian aggression. Zelensky’s presence at such a popular event as the Sanremo Festival is a way to be close to the Ukrainians who defend their freedom and their European choice and, therefore, our values, listening to the voice of the legitimate institutions of Kiev. I hope that, despite the political pressure, the organizers will confirm Zelensky’s presence. Backtracking now would be a bad sign, inevitably seen as distancing oneself from the Ukrainian cause. And I am also sure that the Ukrainian community in Italy, including refugees because of the war, will be proud and happy to see his brief greeting message in the most awaited TV show of the year”, the statement of the secretary of + Europa, Benedict DellaVedova.
“But is it really so difficult to understand (even on the left) that Zelensky makes sense in Sanremo precisely because it is not an information context? And that the Festival has always been a place where important messages and themes are conveyed?”, the words of Matthew Orfini on twitter.
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