Gennaro Sangiuliano’s resignation as Minister of Culture is due to “a private matter” in which “there is no wrongdoing” and which certainly “will not weaken the government”. Georgia Meloni makes it clear that, on the other hand, “the king is dead, long live the king, a minister has resigned, good work to a new minister” and opens her speech at the Cernobbio Economic Forum by clarifying what had become the gossip of the end of the summer. The prime minister, interviewed by Director of the Corriere, Luciano Fontanadid not shy away from numerous questions, even on a topic that had been in the news until yesterday, with the sensational twist. A topic in the spotlight for the media, even if at a certain point the audience of entrepreneurs present in the room did not hide their impatience on the subject and raised a wall of ‘enough’ at the second question on the subject.
“I’m not saying this about the specific case but for the many women who have looked at this story probably as I did: my idea of how a woman should earn her space in society is diametrically opposed to that of this person”, Meloni still sends out to say, who once again does not mention Maria Rosaria Boccia also because “I don’t think I should start arguing with this person”, she cuts it short
“I intend to do my job, do it well and until the end of the legislature”, she says, continuing along the line of reasoning on the affair that led to the changing of the guard at the Collegio Romano, and on how many, she implies, were ‘rooting’ for a fatal stumble on the path of Palazzo Chigi. “I also think that Italians understand a certain double standard, that more importance is given to things that would be less relevant and less to things that would be more relevant”, she continues. The Prime Minister then says she is “very struck by the disproportion of articles that have been dedicated to the private affair of Minister Sangiuliano compared to those dedicated to an investigation, carried out by the Perugia Prosecutor’s Office, which tells of state officials who for years have made hundreds of thousands of illegal accesses to the databases of this nation, reasonably – she continues – to blackmail people”.
The future of Ukraine
Returning to the concreteness of the dossiers on the government table, Meloni, who had met the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, shortly before for a bilateral meeting that both said went “very well”, reiterated Italy’s support for Ukraine: “It is a choice of national interest, which will not change”. And also that “We must not give up. I do not think that Ukraine’s fate is so sealed.. I think we must not fall for Russian propaganda. The data says something different, it is not true that we have no hope of winning. It is a stalemate”.
The relationship with Brussels and Washington
Then, space for the EU, the new appointments and finally the budget. “Something new should arrive next week. I have no reason to believe that Italy will not be given its due. No one wants Italy not to be given its role”, she stresses with a reference to the appointment, considered imminent by observers, of Minister Raffaele Fitto as Executive Vice President of the EU Commission, with the Economy portfolio. The Prime Minister expresses “optimism” about the role that the country will have in the next European Commission. As for “Fitto, I believe he should really be thanked for the extraordinary work he has done on the PNRR”, she adds. The Plan, Meloni continues, “will be in good hands in the coming years too. All of Italy should thank Fitto for the work he has done and for what he will do for Europe”.
A mention also of relations with the United States: “Great nations do not change their alliance systems as their governments change. The American administration is led by a Democrat and since the beginning of my government exports have increased by 7 billion. We must remain calm”, as well as on the relations “between the United States and Europe. Pay attention to what are today the geo-global balances”.
I fear internal politics
From foreign policy to domestic scenarios. A passage on the maneuver could not be missed. Certainly “there will not be the abolition of the single allowance”. And equally certainly there is the will to do more and more “with the seriousness of maintaining a budget policy that tells that the season of bonuses and money thrown out the window, of resources put on things that do not provide any multiplier, is over”. “There is little money and even more reason it cannot be squandered – he underlined – This is my budget policy and that of the majority, beyond legitimate claims”.
There is no lack of an answer to the questions about Industry 5.0 “perhaps – he explains – one of the things done by this government to which I have not been able to give adequate visibility. But we are talking about 6.3 billion euros available to companies to make their work more energy and digitally efficient. It is added to Industry 4.0, to which 6.4 billion euros had been allocated, so we are talking about over 12 billion euros. It would not have been possible if we had not done the famous revision of the PNRR“. “If there are things that can be improved” from a bureaucratic point of view, Meloni emphasizes, “I am absolutely available. As well as to evaluate the terms of any extensions. The measures, in my opinion, are put in place, we evaluate how they work and then we decide how to proceed. Sometimes you have to have the courage to say, ‘I imagined this measure, but it didn’t work’. The better the measure works, the more we will have an interest in carrying it forward”.
So many issues on the table – for an intervention whose timing is dictated by the meeting with Zelensky first and the departure for the Paralympics immediately after the meeting with the audience at Villa d’Este – and a joke to close: “Mine is the seventh longest-lasting government. If I get to Christmas it will be the sixth… It’s a very easy ranking to climb. I still have to do the math on Easter, but I’m superstitious…”