Mattarella says “yes” to preventive detention by decree, “no” to police powers for the army. Crosetto’s disappointment

‘Better 500 soldiers in Milan or a slap from Dad?’ says Fabio Rampelli, the FdI leader of the Meloni generation: ‘I’d send the Maranza to join the resistance in Ukraine – that’s what I’d do.’ After being watered down by Mattarella, Meloni’s iron-fisted decree passes through the Council of Ministers. The offence of ‘violent participation’ is introduced, providing for the preventive detention of minors, and if a child wreaks havoc, the family pays. The army remains the army (and for Crosetto it is “a wasted opportunity”) and will have no police powers. This is the Quirinale’s request, and it strikes a balance between too little and too much. It is the middle ground between dandruff-ridden sociology and Vannacci, who dreams of the ICE in Italy: Minneapolis and a cutlet.

Piantedosi, the ‘minister of calm’, reminds his colleagues: Italy is not France. Crosetto believes that in Milan ‘it was guerrilla warfare’ and that one cannot ask the military for help in the city without granting them the necessary powers. While a dispute over jurisdiction is playing out within the government (can the army have the same functions as the police?), a legal dispute arbitrated by Mattarella (which ends in favour of the Ministry of the Interior), Conte, Schlein, Fratoianni and Bonelli travel to Jericho. Without any ill will, the left is “one hundred per cent” in agreement (as Schlein states) on the Middle East, but has forgotten about Milan and Catanzaro. Meloni brings the security decree before the Council of Ministers following the events in Milan; Calabria is paralysed by lorry drivers; and Cerignola resembles Ramallah (footage from Vespri is circulating). Instead of stating “we want 500 teachers in Milan, we want security but also education, let’s not lose our heads – Milan isn’t Paris”, the broad coalition finds itself at an event on Palestine entitled “Dall’economia di occupazione all’economia di liberazione”.

Outside, opposite Montecitorio, farmers from the CIA are protesting, and today more tractors are arriving from Calabria. First Tel Aviv, then Cerignola. If you want to beat Meloni, does it make more sense to rush to the toll booths in Cosenza or to carry on commenting on the editorials in Haaretz? In the Chamber of Deputies, Marco Osnato – chair of the Finance Committee, a member of FdI, and the MP whom Meloni would like to see as mayor of Milan or president of Lombardy – reflects and says: “I’m watching the lorry drivers’ protests; I’m aware of the sector’s difficulties, I know the problems, but I simply cannot shake the feeling that organised crime is stirring things up behind those protests.” The Maranza have covered up the protests by the Malacreanza – the forcone movement from the south that brings together the presidents of Confesercenti, who are also honorary consuls of Russia – lorry drivers who post nonsense like this on social media: “We’re boycotting Russian gas because Trump is forcing us to; Trump buys Russian gas and resells it to us.” Against this backdrop of a veritable siege, two schools of thought are clashing within the government. On the one hand, there is Piantedosi’s line, defending his men – including the Milan police commissioner, Bruno Megale – and who, as a prefect, has seen it all: he’s known anarchists, Red Brigades members and, today, these hooded figures who eat cornflakes. On the other hand, there is Salvini’s line, who would castrate, tear out fingernails and who knows what else to get the better of Vannacci or Rossano Sasso, the FN professor who tells us: “Italy needs a police force like ICE, but even tougher.”

And then there is Crosetto with all his complexity. The measure equating street clashes with the offence of criminal association is included in the decree and then removed, but this new offence of ‘violent participation in a demonstration’ is introduced, carrying sentences of up to 12 years, with aggravating circumstances for vandalism and looting, damage to property and attacks on public utilities because, as Meloni explains in a video, “the certainty of punishment must also apply to those aged 16”. Those who were banking on Mattarella rejecting the preventive detention order will have to think again. Something is happening which, at this level, cannot be described as friction but can be called equilibrium – a balance between powers and state institutions. If Mattarella establishes that the army performs a different role from the police, the dispute ends. That is simply the way it is, and even Crosetto falls into line, though Crosetto is free to think – and does think, and says – that “an opportunity has been missed to deploy the military in a different way”. To be clear: not to use them as sentries outside embassies. The Interior Ministry is coordinating with the Quirinale and Chigi, in the person of Mantovano. It is Mantovano who is adopting Mattarella’s line and putting a stop to what some fear might be seen as ‘Crosetto overstepping his remit’. Even Giorgetti’s Gdf is turning up its nose. Already this morning, the police unions are complaining that the army cannot be given judicial functions. The Ministry of Defence, on the other hand, points to experience in war zones. After all, is it not Crosetto who speaks of hybrid warfare in Milan, of ‘guerrilla warfare’?

So what happened in Milan? At the press conference, Piantedosi spoke of an “unprecedented phenomenon”, stating that “there was no inaction”. He was accompanied by Minister Nordio, and it is clear – again, without any ill will – that Crosetto’s absence was particularly noticeable, as he had been expected to attend the conference. There is talk of a proposal—also rejected by the President—but discussed only in the pre-Council meeting: namely, the possibility of having the intelligence services monitor the web, these channels of anger (as if a decree were needed to do so). Is it better to have 500 soldiers or a slap from Dad? The deployment of 500 soldiers was proposed as an alternative to additional police measures, although the idea was ultimately rejected. The army will not be marching in Milan, and the Bersaglieri will not be arriving to make arrests in handcuffs. The left cannot claim that Italy has been militarised, given President Mattarella’s oversight of the situation, while the right—which will not admit it publicly—might have preferred a more visible military presence on Corso Buenos Aires. In the end, Mattarella’s diplomatic intervention prevailed, defusing the situation with the wisdom of a seasoned statesman.