they want to govern with palace games –

“Relationships with Matteo Salvini are not bad at all and we often smile with him too at the reconstructions we read in the press. Especially since the government experience began, a friendship has been born and we also hang out outside of work.” The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, dispels doubts about the stability of the government alliance during a long all-round interview on TV by Bruno Vespa (first on Cinque minuti then on Porta a Porta), in which, however, she appears for a moment almost shocked by the latest initiative of her deputy prime minister. In fact, on the new regulation for construction, he explains: “Salvini mentioned something to me and today I saw that he said that he is working on this regulation. I don’t know the regulation, I only read the MIT press release, so I can’t give a judgement, but we are talking about remedying small discrepancies, if this is the case it is reasonable”.

It is on the issue of the premiership that Meloni focuses most, attacking the left and its chancellorship proposal: “With this proposal, the left betrays its real intentions. The real reason why they are against the direct election of the head of government it is because they prefer a system in which governments are made in palaces. The chancellorship leads to the creation of governments of broad agreements. We have been very careful not to touch the figure of the President of the Republic, who has fewer powers in the chancellorship, therefore their position it’s instrumental. They want a system in which they can stay in the government even when they don’t win, but we want a system in which the citizens decide who they want to be governed by.” In essence, the prime minister underlines, “what I wanted is a reform that did not call into question the authority and unity that the head of state guarantees, but it changes a lot when you have a direct mandate from the citizens, you respond to the citizens. The president of the Republic is the guarantor of the Constitution. Then if we also want to introduce the direct election of the President of the Republic, I am not against it.”

On the electoral law, she adds, “I am quite secular on the issue of the ballot, for me the important thing is to bring to fruition this reform which I consider the legacy I leave to the Italians”. On the European front, Meloni does not guarantee unconditional support for an encore of Ursula von der Leyen. Indeed, he explains, “von der Leyen is the candidate of the EPP, and I am not from the EPP, I am from the European Conservatives, who could have another candidate. But who will be president of the Commission will be decided on the basis of the citizens’ vote. The my only objective is to change the majority, I am not open to any structural agreement with the left, this will never happen”. Therefore the objective, she points out, “must be to bring the Italian model to Europe, bringing a centre-right majority to Brussels. The President of the Commission arrives later than this reasoning”. Institutional collaboration remains, “because it is necessary, to bring home results for Italy. And I have brought home results, on the issue of migrants, on the agreement with Egypt, with Tunisia, with Albania, on theme of agriculture…but then the elections are another thing.” “The only thing we must not do – she concludes – is divide ourselves, because the left is in difficulty in Europe, and if we divide we will help it”.

Finally, a mention of the case of Ilaria Salis: “Seeing the handcuffs when she enters the trial had an impact on me, because we are not used to it, but it’s not that this is the treatment that Hungary reserved for Ilaria Salis, it’s what use with everyone. Then we made ourselves heard, but a government cannot intervene in the judiciary, there is a rule of law and even there there is the autonomy of the judiciary. The government can take care of guaranteeing adequate treatment for its compatriot and that’s what I talked about with Viktor Orban, and then you can intervene after the sentence becomes final, as happened with Chico Forti and Patrick Zaki.” Of course, however, he concludes, “the political campaign that the left is setting up against Ilaria Salis risks being counterproductive. You have to work in silence, because if you insult your interlocutor it is difficult to get something from him”.