Meloni debunks opposition accusations in court

Giorgia Meloni defends the Government’s actions in the Senate. In the last 10 years, only three times has a Prime Minister gone to the Chamber to answer immediate questions and in the last 4 years this has never happened. Questions that covered various topics: from repairing the damage caused by floods in Emilia Romagna to pensions, including financial maneuvering and security measures. Obviously, even though it was not one of the topics, Meloni wanted to mention the case of Giulia Cecchettin and before starting she thanked «all the parliamentary groups for the work they did in approving the rules to combat violence against women». Afterwards, she unfolded a series of records achieved by her government team, starting with the “female employment record”, which is also the figure that the prime minister is “most proud of”. But also “record employment rate, record number of employees and permanent employees, plus half a million workers of which 443 thousand are stable”. Results that, however, are not shared by the unions given that, as the Prime Minister noted, “between 2012 and 2022” there were “around six general strikes, on average one every two years, while now there are two per year ”.

During the session, a caustic exchange with Matteo Renzi also took place. The senator asked the government to account for the country’s economic growth, citing, among other data, the cost of gasoline. An objection to which Meloni responded by remembering that “the cost of gasoline depends on the choices made by the countries that own the oil: if your friend Mohammad bin Salman wants to help us, maybe he will help us lower it”. To then move on to the macroeconomic data that “four rating agencies” promoted and the “spread at its lowest level in a long time”. And also the Italian stock market, which is growing more than «all other European stock exchanges are growing». Not only. Meloni wanted to highlight how Italian inflation «according to the European Commission in 2023 and 2024 will be lower than the European average» or how in the Pnrr «Italy was among the first» countries «in Europe to obtain the funds». The Italian Greens-Left Alliance highlighted the delay in compensation for floods in Emilia Romagna. In his response, Meloni recalled the total of 6.5 billion euros that were allocated by the government. And for the prolonged deadlines for distributing compensation, he blamed the delay with which the Emilia Romagna Region made the “Sfinge platform” operational, which is the tool with which individuals can submit compensation claims. Dem Francesco Boccia responded to this in his speech, recalling that «this platform was modified at the request of comisMila The number of additional workers hired from October 2022 will be Figliuolo (…) was modified because he chose to appoint a commissioner after three months.” The topic of the Italy-Albania agreement was also included in the discussion. Meloni first wanted to deny those who claimed that it was not in conformity with European legislation. Recalling how Europe responded directly to this point, with several interventions, the last of which was Chancellor Scholz yesterday, who said that the agreement does not violate European rules and that, in fact, Europe is interested in deepening it.” He then recalled how this agreement took shape this summer, when “everyone thought I was on vacation” in Albania and “instead I was trying to achieve a goal that was very important to me.” M5S, however, raised the topic of Ukraine by recalling a phrase uttered by the prime minister during the prank call made by the two Russian comedians. “We need to find a way out that is acceptable to both parties,” Meloni said on the call. A position, according to grillini, that contrasts with the thesis always defended by the prime minister. Here too, Meloni argued that there is no discrepancy and that “maintaining the balance between forces on the ground means supporting Ukraine”.