Rome – The mantra behind which the desires of a piece of the centre-right are hidden was repeated once again yesterday, while Giovanni Toti was interrogated in the barracks: «He will decide whether to resign or not». Well, if it were really up to Toti, his resignation as governor wouldn’t even be on the table. Those who have had the opportunity to grasp his wishes in recent days leave little room for doubt: «Giovanni doesn’t want to take a step back, he doesn’t think about it himself. He is determined to resist.” Resisting – of course – not only the winds of the Ligurian investigation, but also those in the governing majority who first say, with the air of the purest guaranteeist, “he decides, not the judiciary”, and then takes a deep breath to add: ” Of course, if the situation were to worsen…”.
And especially Giorgia Meloni to consider the idea of returning to the vote in November, thus putting an end to the matter and the media flurry. “Let’s see what comes out of the interrogation and how he responds to the prosecutors,” he told his loyal followers. He wants to wait, but he already has the path to take ready if the situation for Toti were to take a bad turn: from Rome – explain FdI government sources – a message would be delivered to make the governor understand that “resisting” can no longer be done . With the hope that this will be enough to convince him to resign. Otherwise, Meloni’s party admits, “the possibility of making him fall by leaving the majority in the regional council always remains.”
Toti’s first objective, obviously, is to emerge from the river interrogation without worsening his position. Yet, politically, it will not be enough. For FdI it would only be useful to buy time and bypass the European Championships. Meloni will defend the governor only if another element materializes: the revocation of the arrest. Otherwise, it would be complicated to hold on until the end of the legislature, in 2025, with a president “suspended” and under house arrest. This is what the leader of Forza Italia also makes clear, Antonio Tajani: «If the arrest were to be revoked, we would go in the direction of remaining at the helm of the Region».
But at FdI they are pessimistic: «The investigating judge has already rejected the request of Francesco Moncada», the former councilor of the Esselunga board of directors. The last chance, in this case, would be an appeal to the tribunal of freedom. The other deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini (who will be in Genoa today), also insists on the point of arrest. A sign that the first trench can be dug there. Salvini wonders whether it was “necessary to arrest a governor elected by the citizens, a month before the vote, for episodes dating back in some cases to years earlier”.
And he even goes one step further: «I believe he is innocent, as I have known him over the years. Correct and dynamic person.” He defends it and will continue to do so, because – they reason in the Northern League – “Meloni will have to take responsibility for bringing down a centre-right council, only on the basis of an investigation”.
The move would cause some stomach aches within the Brothers of Italy, where the most guarantee-minded, like the minister Guido Crosetto, they could not agree with the decision. But Salvini is worried above all of the fate of the works under construction in the Region, largely linked to his ministry: «We must not retreat an inch. Investigations cannot block Italy and stop the country’s construction sites.”
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