Meloni in the spotlight; row in the Council of Ministers over end-of-life care. Salvini: “This is how we’ll lose”

A government that challenges the Veneto law on end-of-life care is cutting its own short. Calderoli does not vote; Salvini abstains. Nine out of 25 ministers are present. It is a Council of Ministers meeting in disarray, in every sense of the word. The draft decree on utility bills is scrapped, with the National Audit Office pre-empting the issue: “There are no funding issues”. Salvini criticises the meeting, saying “it shouldn’t even have been convened”. The session ends in acrimony, with accusations levelled at Giorgetti, a minister whom, according to the League, “sees himself as the missing link between Draghi and the Pope”. Accusations are also levelled at Meloni: “This is how we’ll lose the election”. 

There isn’t a single minister left who doesn’t tell you: “Nowadays, the only news is finding out when Meloni decides to resign”. Speculation is rife that Meloni has informed Mattarella. The Council of Ministers is in a state of disarray with this energy bill decree postponed until Monday amid a game of ping-pong. The National Audit Office explains that ARERA’s obligations have not been met and that the fault does not lie with this office, which the League is keen to attack. It is all just insults and appointments. We now know just how much Federico Freni – the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Economy and Finance from whom Consob was taken away in disgrace – was worth. He was worth a great deal. Three appointments backed by the League. Bagnai has gone to the Competition Authority, and Giulio Centemero, former treasurer of the League and a Giorgetti loyalist who undoubtedly deserves the post, is now being appointed to Consob. That’s two fewer MPs to field as candidates, and in Centemero’s place, a League member without a seat, Stefano Locatelli, is stepping in for a few months. Yet another Lega member, Trifone Altieri – a representative of the southern branch of the Lega, the ‘Lega Frisella’ – has been appointed to ANAC. Meloni’s shrewdness is lost in this flurry of appointments, in this sea of appointments. She has sent a letter to the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, asking him to appoint an envoy to Moscow as soon as possible to negotiate with Putin. It is a decision that, in truth, has already been endorsed by Macron and Merz (only the name is missing), but Meloni knows how to turn it to her advantage. It is a way of demonstrating, after the mid-term elections, that she has always been pro-European and that at the G20 in Miami (where Meloni will be attending), her closest ally will be Vance. He is Trump’s deputy, the author of American Elegy, who now dreams of reforming the Republicans – the very same Vance whom Meloni treated to a taste of Piedmontese Barolo at the prefecture in Milan (the Piedmont governor Cirio had it delivered in a great hurry). Not even Tajani had been informed of the letter; Meloni handled it all herself.

According to sources, when criticised for not participating in the E3 format, Meloni replies: “Do you know what that means? It means we’d have to agree to send troops, and I don’t want to send them – and I don’t think any of us do.” Salvini, a genius in his own way, is warning that aid to Kyiv this time – but only this time – will be approved by COPASIR, but next time…… next time, there’ll be nothing left. Another admission that’s been made is that Meloni regrets not having listened to Fazzolari, who told her to call an election straight away, after the referendum, and that every time she meets him in the corridor at Palazzo Chigi, she smiles at him and says: “You’re always right”. We’re at the end credits, but it’s just like at the cinema. The film has finished but the lights don’t come on, and no one has the courage to be the first to stand up. Salvini doesn’t know what to make of a solid, rigorous budget. He made it clear to Meloni that “Conte will campaign on the universal basic income, and what are we offering? The sanctification of the accounts?”. Then there is the end-of-life issue, which is giving rise to bizarre alliances – or perhaps not so bizarre after all. Meloni decides to challenge the law, but Calderoli, who is going through a troubled period, opposes it once again. It is his second refusal. He has not signed the motion against Romeo, his Senate group leader, who is due to face a vote of no confidence in a couple of hours’ time, and has sided with Zaia, who has been waging a ‘battle for civilisation’ over end-of-life issues for the past month. Observers note that this is the unusual alliance that Marina Berlusconi is said to have envisaged. According to reports, when she met Zaia she told him: “But would you like to…”. Forza Italia, Tajani and Minister Bernini are in favour of a national law – the very same demand as Zaia’s. The paradox is that Alberto Stefani, the governor who promoted it, was against it. It’s coming to an end. Zangrillo says on the radio that he’ll dye his hair blue if FI allies with Vannacci, whilst the League dreams of a Nuremberg-style trial against the ‘state swans’, the accountant Daria Perrotta. In America, the ducks are lame, and in Italy, ducklings are floating about.