"This is a case for prison." FdI continues its attack on Conte over Covid. Vannacci’s camp

Rome. The Brothers are preparing to target Giuseppe Conte in yet another offensive over the handling of the pandemic. Barring any changes to the schedule, the former prime minister is due to be heard on 4 August. But FdI, which last week revived the call for the reinstatement of anti-vaccine doctors, is pressing ahead. It also has the backing of the Vannacci supporters, led by ideologue Lorenzo Gasperini.

Today, Galeazzo Bignami is due to be heard before the Covid Inquiry Committee that Meloni’s supporters were so keen to see established – and in which it seems the allies are far less involved. But a foretaste of what the coming days might hold was already provided at the weekend, during a Meloni-led event near Vicenza. Looking back at the Covid affair – specifically the mask contract worth over a billion euros which the FdI are using to attack Conte from Via della Scrofa – group leader Bignami – backed on stage by another FdI heavyweight, Giovanni Donzelli – went so far as to call for the former prime minister to be jailed. Conte’s actions? “The sort of thing that, if anyone in this square had done it, they’d have been taken straight to prison.” It is an attack that has been going on for weeks, a campaign conducted in tandem with the newspapers closest to the ruling right-wing coalition, and one that will continue in the coming days, because “Conte – as FdI representatives keep repeating – must explain what he did with Italians’ money”. It has now become a defining issue for Meloni’s supporters: they were the most vocal in calling for the committee of inquiry, which, however, does not deal with what happened in the regions, despite the fact that they played a central role during the pandemic. This is another reason why the bicameral body is regarded by the opposition as “a political weapon”, all the more so after Francesco Boccia of the Democratic Party, through a parliamentary question, had highlighted inconsistencies and links between Giorgia Meloni’s party and Dario Bianchi, one of the accusers of former Prime Minister Conte. Bianchi was a regular at Atreju festivals but also the owner of a company which, in 2025, received over 100 million from the government through a settlement following a first-instance ruling, relating to a failed tender specifically for face masks. Furthermore, the entrepreneur who owns JC Electronics, although he was heard by the Covid committee, had never mentioned the financial settlement.

At this morning’s hearing, Bignami will speak about the pandemic plan, the role of Domenico Arcuri, and the minutes of the task force that dealt with the emergency – which were published following an appeal by the group leader himself to the Regional Administrative Court. In short, Meloni’s supporters will be back on the offensive. In order to be heard, Bignami – who was a member of the committee – has resigned. He has asked Conte to do the same so that he can be questioned by the commissioners. “But he hasn’t resigned yet. It’s a Pirandellian scenario.” Is the former prime minister running away? “If it isn’t an escape, it certainly looks very much like one,” the group leader replies to Il Foglio, confirming the Brothers’ intention to press ahead with this battle. “But it’s not that we’re giving up on Conte,” he assures us, “we want to bring the whole truth about that period to light.” And perhaps facilitate the reinstatement of the struck-off anti-vax doctors, through an amendment (spearheaded by Buonguerrieri, with the go-ahead from Undersecretary Gemmato) to the draft enabling bill on the reform of the healthcare professions. For former Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin, “it is a serious decision”, and not just on the merits of the case. “If the principle is accepted that Parliament can overturn the effects of disciplinary decisions made by professional bodies, it will open the door to a dangerous era of political interference in medicine and science.” The Democratic Party MP has tabled an urgent parliamentary question to Minister Orazio Schillaci.

Meanwhile, however, Meloni’s supporters are finding fertile ground in the camp of General Roberto Vannacci, with whom channels of dialogue on various issues seem to be opening up increasingly in recent days. Now this extends to Covid too, as Lorenzo Gasperini explains to "Il Foglio". “Fn is absolutely opposed to the health dictatorship and to what we have seen under the Conte II and Draghi governments. We are opposed to the authorities imposing any form of experimental medical treatment. Finally – the Futurists’ ideologue insists – it is time to reinstate doctors who have been struck off for purely ideological reasons. Science progresses through free debate, so there must be no striking off of those who think differently from others.”