The next two days could be decisive for the political fate of the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi. In fact, tomorrow the owner of the Viminale will make a report to the Chamber, to then pass on to the Senate the following day, on the tragic sinking of the Cutro, following the request to appear in Parliament made on March 2 during the leading group of Palazzo Madama by M5s and Greens and Left. During the meeting the simultaneous presence of the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini was also invoked, who, however, immediately made it known that he did not want to denounce, effectively leaving Piantedosi alone with the task of clarifying the most controversial points of the tragedy along the Calabrian coast in March 26th.
Piantedosi’s call comes at the end of a week, to say the least, ardent, during which his words on the subject were absolute protagonists of the Italian political debate, with the opposition immediately uniting – as had not happened for some time – against the minister repeatedly calling for his resignation. Resignation requests that were put on paper during the Minister’s hearing in the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber last March 1, in which the minority – without exception, from the Democratic Party to 5 Stars, from Italia Viva to +Europa – gave the “there” to a coordinated crossfire in an attempt to corner the owner of the interior ministry and, at the same time, the government. The opposition’s requests were based, on the one hand, on Viminale’s alleged political responsibilities in managing the Cutro wreck and, on the other hand, on the various statements Piantedosi made after the incident, in institutional settings and in the press.
The political struggle began practically immediately, when the contours and dynamics of the tragedy had not yet been analysed, with minority parties attacking Piantedosi the day after the sinking. An attack that mainly concerned a phrase pronounced by the minister during the press conference on February 26: “Desperation can never justify travel conditions that put the lives of your children at risk”, Piantedosi said at the time, triggering a wave of indignation on the part of the opposition, which defined the words “inhuman” and “horrible”.
But Piantedosi, also supported by his majority, chose to keep the point, to reiterate the meaning of his message the very next day, in an interview with Corriere. “A message must be clear: that anyone fleeing a war cannot trust unscrupulous smugglers”, he explained, effectively returning the cargo to the sender, branded as “empty exploitation”, and underlining that in the signaling and rescue operations “there was no wanted delays, and to think so would be offensive.”
However, the controversy exploded definitively during the aforementioned Constitutional Affairs commission, when the Democratic Party, together with the other opposition forces, launched the definitive offensive: “I was very impressed with your words today – said, for example, the neo-democratic secretary Elly Schlein in her speech – Unworthy declarations of a minister. Inhuman words and not up to par”, thus joining the formal request for resignation that has already been made to her by +Europe and M5S. “We will leave it to the judiciary – replied Piantedosi – and we value the right place to assign any responsibilities. If there is any weakness in the ministry, I assume and assume all my responsibilities.” Possible political responsibilities, on the other hand, may already be clarified tomorrow in the Chamber.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
