He has something for everyone, even for his predecessor Mario Draghi, in defiance of a handover that everyone remembers with smiles and precious advice. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a river in flood in her reply to the Chamber, after the communications on the European Council on the agenda tomorrow and Friday. A complicated appointment in Brussels, because on the horizon there is a “tight and very difficult” negotiation, admits the Prime Minister herself, on the new Stability and Growth Pact.
“I will not sell out Italy”
“I won't sell out Italy”, he assures, seeing glimmers of opportunity and claiming the weight that Italy now has on the gaming table. The opposition stings, the dem Lia Quartapelle invites the prime minister to choose between Zelensky and Orban, pointing the finger at the contradictions of the Meloni government in foreign policy. She sinks the M5S, with Riccardo Ricciardi inviting her to say what she really thinks about the war in Ukraine, once again pulling the phone call from the Russian comedy duo Vovan & Lexus out of the hat.
Slip on Draghi, then corrects the shot
The measure is full for Meloni. He invites the opposition to calm down, “don't be nervous” he repeats several times, but he doesn't touch it slowly. Mario Draghi also paid the price. “I was very struck – he says – that reference was made to the great statesmanly gesture of my predecessor Mario Draghi and the photo on the train to Kiev with Macron and Scholz. For some, foreign policy was taking photos with France and Germany when not you took nothing home. Europe is not three but 27, you have to talk to everyone: I talk to Germany, France and even Hungary, this is doing my job well.” Touché: even among the government benches there are those who exchange surprised glances at the attack that has just been perpetrated.
Shortly afterwards, on the sidelines of a heated debate, Meloni adjusted his aim, firmly explaining that his was not at all an attack on the former number one of the ECB, but on the Democratic Party “which as usual thinks that all the work that the president of the Draghi Council has done is summed up in the photograph with France and Germany. It is not the photo with Macron and Scholz that determines Draghi's work. He has nothing to do with it, on the contrary – he points out – I respected his firmness in the face of the difficulties that had in his majority. His work cannot be resolved in a photograph next to the leaders of Paris and Berlin.”
His, he reiterates with conviction, “was an attack on the Democratic Party, according to which foreign policy is only about taking pictures with France and Germany, when instead this Government claims the ability to be able to dialogue with everyone in Europe and also at international. The intention was certainly not to attack Draghi and even less to attack the impulse that Draghi managed to give in European support for Ukraine”. For Meloni the incident ends here. With Draghi, because with the opposition the controversy does not stop, on the contrary: it is destined to become more heated as the European elections approach.
Mes, lunge at Conte
In the reply, the most ruthless foil blow is in fact for another predecessor, Giuseppe Conte. And it comes to one of the most sensitive topics of recent weeks, the ratification of the European Stability Mechanism. “Who gave consent to the ratification” of the ESM “which today also binds us? The Conte government did it, without a parliamentary mandate and it did so one day after resigning, when it was only in office for current affairs, giving a mandate to an ambassador with a mandate signed by Minister Di Maio, without a parliamentary mandate, without having power, without having told the Italians, under the cover of darkness”. Meloni recognizes transparency and coherence for herself and her government: “Better to be isolated than to sell out Italy”.
Superbonus, 'boulder' against the M5S
Another attack for the Grillini is on the superbonus, already described as a “boulder” during his communications in the Chamber. In the reply the Prime Minister hurls that boulder straight at the M5S. “More than 30% of the tens of billions of euros spent on the super bonus – he says – ended up in banks and financial intermediaries, who also made record profits for this reason” and also for this reason “the Italians decided not to vote for it again” . “Not to mention the sensational frauds: almost a billion have been discovered in the last few weeks alone, resources taken away from healthcare, transport, families and everything that could be most useful – he adds -. Someone sooner or later, rather than giving advice to others, he should deal with his own conscience. Who knows if sooner or later we will want to shed light on this issue.”
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