Politics
The statements •
Meloni: “When Mattarella was Minister for Education, he drew up circulars setting a cap on the number of foreign pupils in classes”
The Prime Minister on Bruno Vespa’s programme. On the 3.1 per cent deficit: “I’m sorry.” Regarding Schlein’s letter: “I’ll consider the proposals; she’s a natural point of contact. Conte? I’m still paying off the superbonus.” And Vannacci: “He’s reviving Russian propaganda against me; he needs to clarify.” Meanwhile, on the electoral law: “If there’s no confidence, I’ll take note of that.”
“When the President of the Republic was Minister for Education, he drew up circulars urging schools not to concentrate foreign pupils in the same class; it is a common-sense measure. I think it is right to take this forward.” This was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in an interview with Bruno Vespa on the programmes Cinque Minuti and Porta a Porta (where the presenter will appear on air with his arm in a sling following a minor domestic accident this morning).
The Prime Minister responded to a question regarding the Head of State’s comments on the bill currently being drafted by the government to cap the number of foreign pupils in classrooms. The measure could be approved by the Council of Ministers on Thursday: “I have read an interpretation suggesting that the President of the Republic’s words yesterday were intended to challenge the government,” the Prime Minister continued, adding: “I do not see it that way. He says that schools must overcome ghettos. And a ghetto is much easier to create if you take a foreign child who doesn’t speak our language and put them in a class full of foreign children who don’t speak our language. Instead, a more balanced distribution helps to prevent any child, whether foreign or Italian, from feeling as though they are in a ghetto.”
The Prime Minister: “The ban on the Islamic headscarf is a matter of common sense”
The same measure contains a provision banning the Islamic headscarf, the burqa, in schools. “It strikes me as a measure of absurd common sense, which has nothing to do with the issue of discrimination; rather, it has everything to do with allowing us, of course, to put in place sacrosanct rules, not least for security reasons,” said Meloni on Porta a Porta, again with Bruno Vespa (the interview will be broadcast in tonight’s episode). “These are rules that clearly serve a security purpose as well,” she added. “Similar measures banning people from attending school or university – and in many cases even public offices – with their faces covered exist across half of Europe. They even exist in a number of Muslim-majority countries. Then there is also the issue linked to so-called equal opportunities and women’s rights, which I pride myself on defending. And I find it a bit odd that often the very same people who tell us we do not defend women’s rights enough – perhaps because I do not allow myself to be called ‘la presidenta’ – then, when faced with a measure such as this, do not consider that the issue of women’s rights needs to be addressed.”
Meloni on the deficit: “I am clearly disappointed”
The Prime Minister spoke about the latest Istat figures on the deficit-to-GDP ratio, which stands at 3.1 per cent – one percentage point above the threshold required to exit the European Union’s infringement procedure. “I am clearly disappointed,” she said. “The work we have done is very complex: we have reduced the deficit from 8.1 per cent to the current 3.08 per cent. We will press ahead with the roadmap.”
“Istat,” Meloni continues, “is also revising its growth estimates for 2024: they told us it had been 0.7 per cent. In fact, it was 1.1 per cent. This has happened every year – growth estimates have been revised upwards years later. I don’t know whether Istat is underestimating Italians or the government. I would be very disappointed if this were to happen again in two years’ time and we discovered that we are actually below 3 per cent but the estimates were too conservative.”
Meloni: “Schlein’s letter contains sensible proposals. She is my natural point of contact. Conte? We are still paying off the debts.”
The Prime Minister then spoke about the letter sent to her by the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein: “As far as I am concerned, I have said and I reiterate that these are all proposals I intend to consider without prejudice – certainly not the kind of prejudice that, shall we say, I have very often seen on the part of the opposition regarding our proposals and our initiatives, including the area under discussion.” She continued: "There are some proposals that strike me as sensible and reasonable, and I am willing to look into them in more detail."
On Schlein’s leadership, Meloni is playing at holding primaries: “Today, the leader of the main opposition party is clearly a natural counterpart for me, not because I choose my counterparts, but because I recognise and respect the counterparts that the public choose; and in this case, the leader of the party with a relative majority in the opposition is obviously the natural counterpart.”
Meloni, however, also spoke about the other leader of the broad coalition, Giuseppe Conte. Regarding the vehicle tax and the exemption announced for 2027: “I have also heard some rather serious accusations: ‘We have to pay for the election campaign…’ When I hear a remark like that from members of the Five Star Movement – bearing in mind that I’m still trying to pay off the 200 billion euros in building grants we used to allow Giuseppe Conte to claim that people could renovate their homes for free – it makes me smile a bit.”
She added: “So it’s false; nothing is being cut from regional healthcare, and if the left-wing regional presidents consider this measure to be so shameful, they can always decide not to take part, refuse the state’s contribution and make people pay the vehicle tax, but I fear they won’t do so – and I rightly hope they won’t,” she added. According to the Prime Minister, “the measure, which costs 2.4 billion, is not paid for by the regions. The regions are reimbursed by the state for the funds they do not, of course, collect through the vehicle tax. So it seems clear to me that the criticisms I am hearing from various regional presidents, particularly those from opposition parties, are obviously – well, let’s put it this way – being used for political gain in this case.”
“The elections? They’re talking about a snap election to get rid of us,” says the Prime Minister. On the electoral law: “
Meloni then responds to a question about an early election: “Why is everyone so convinced that we won’t make it to the end of the parliamentary term? Because they can’t wait to get rid of us…”, she jokes. On the electoral law, she adds: “I don’t believe you can tailor electoral laws to suit yourself, because people will vote for you if they want to; if they don’t want to, no electoral law in the world will make a difference. It’s just that, in the attempt to win an election, when people don’t want to vote for you, you end up putting your reputation on the line – which is, after all, the most precious thing we have.”
The bill is currently being debated in the Chamber of Deputies’ Constitutional Affairs Committee. The Prime Minister adds: “Returning to the system of electing MPs is a great victory,” she says regarding preferential voting, but “it is obvious that if there is no vote of confidence in the government, we would have to take note of that”.
Meloni on Vannacci: “He is spreading Russian propaganda against me: he must clarify this”
Meloni then speaks about Roberto Vannacci: “I have no evidence to support such a claim; I do not support it,” she says, referring to the accusation that he is “Moscow’s Trojan horse”. “But,” adds the Prime Minister, “some articles reposted by Vannacci have used arguments straight out of the most shameful Russian propaganda against me – claiming I have a relationship with the Ukrainian president or that I use drugs”. For this reason: “When I came across this content, I questioned it. I believe it is reasonable to expect very clear words from someone who calls himself a patriot. Such defamatory accusations against someone who represents Italy are the sort of accusations in the face of which a patriot stands up. So far, he has remained silent.”
The Prime Minister on the forthcoming budget: “We are working to confirm the tax exemption on contractual pay rises”
Meloni then spoke about the forthcoming budget: “In the private sector, we have exempted contractual pay rises from tax, raising the threshold to 5 per cent,” she said. She added: “According to studies carried out by the Ministry of Labour, the measure affected over four million workers who received a pay rise as a result. It is an achievement that I wish to build on in the forthcoming Budget Bill. We are gradually catching up in terms of wages.”
