A proposed bill against Russian propaganda to launch the Calenda-Picierno ‘hub’

Rome. Two days, two events and the sealing of a political partnership in the name of a ‘reformist and pro-European alternative’: Azione leader Carlo Calenda and the Vice-President of the European Parliament and founder of the Spazio Pubblico movement, Pina Picierno, will meet today in Caserta and Herculaneum to launch a nascent ‘no’ coalition against populism, says Calenda, and in the name of putting a stop, says Picierno, to the practice of “continuing to make choices based on the logic of the lesser of two evils”, within the context of “a political landscape dominated by propaganda, vetoes and vested interests”. But Calenda and Picierno also met yesterday in the Chamber of Deputies to emphasise the urgency of countering Russian propaganda in Italy by putting forward a concrete proposal: this is the ‘Azione’ bill, explain Calenda’s MPs Richetti, Onori and Lombardo, which aims to implement the European Regulation against Russian disinformation in Italy. And it is a paradox, says Calenda, that the Regulation has not been transposed, given that in our country, from 2022 to the present day, there have been “hundreds of public screenings and online campaigns”, including by sanctioned Russian media outlets (such as Russia Today) used in a scenario of hybrid warfare. Europe, through the Court of Justice of the European Union, has confirmed that the Regulation is compatible with freedom of expression, but Italy has not yet even identified the authority responsible for sanctioning those who breach the Regulation, despite the 181 meetings and propaganda screenings carried out on Italian territory in circumvention of EU bans and despite the 22 online poster campaigns (unauthorised Russia Today street posters mapped in June 2025). And Calenda, who on the other front (Donald Trump’s USA) attacks Elon Musk, calling him a “fascist who preaches free speech but fuels hate speech” for his comments on the Roggero case, emphasises precisely the universal significance of the draft bill (i.e. valid not only in defence against propaganda from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, but also against attempts at media manipulation by any other regime). “The upcoming general election in Italy,” says the leader of Azione, “will be infiltrated by Russia, the United States and China via TikTok. We cannot remain in this limbo, and this is only a first step. We reject this interference. We call on the Meloni government to approve a democratic shield against interference from Russia, the US and China.” The proposal, explain Richetti, Onori and Lombardi, aims to “fill a legislative gap” by sanctioning and blocking online and TV propaganda, at “zero cost” and in a timely manner, also involving AGCOM. “Russia has every interest in supporting General Vannacci, the League, the Five Star Movement, and the emerging movement led by Di Battista and D’Orsi,” says Calenda. The reason: “The same interest: the dissolution of the EU.” “88.3 per cent of disinformation attempts in Europe have targeted Italy,” adds Picierno: “Conflicts today are also fought through a hybrid war that is not merely cyber-attacks or espionage, but also disinformation. And there are those who, taking advantage of this vagueness in the information landscape, go so far as to claim that a Russian threat is being fabricated to justify rearmament.” Any reference to Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte is not purely coincidental. Nor is today’s event, held in the very same Campania region where, ten days ago, on a stage in Naples, Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein, AVS leader Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni put forward the aforementioned argument. In Caserta and Ercolano, therefore, the first brick is being laid for the ‘reformist and pro-European’ project, outside the broad and narrow political camps of Schlein and Meloni. “Our draft bill has nothing to do with censorship,” says Senator Lombardo, whilst seeking to rectify the situation of an Italy that is “Europe’s soft underbelly”, with “the D’Orsis coming and going from Moscow and then demanding public platforms to repeat the Kremlin’s propaganda, and so-called journalists on the payroll of entities subject to sanctions: none of this would be possible in other countries. We call for free journalism”. In essence, Azione proposes – in line with the Court of Justice’s guidance – the establishment of a ‘two-track’ system of sanctions (in the digital-media sphere and in the physical and territorial sphere).