«After a year in government I am at peace with my conscience. We need to work even more but Italy is showing very encouraging signs of growth». With this premise, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, began the interview with Bruno Vespa for the programs “Five minutes” and “Porta a Porta” broadcast this evening on Rai 1.
The prime minister touched on many topics. Starting with the stop decided by the French and German governments on migrants arriving from Italy: «The issue of relocation is secondary, that is, very few people have been relocated in recent months. The point is therefore not how we pass migrants among us. The only way to resolve the issue for everyone is to stop primary movements, that is, arrivals in Italy, and I continue to work on this. I see a change in mentality, but I still don’t see concrete answers.” On the task of Mario Draghi to produce a report on competitiveness in the EU by the European Commission, Meloni replied: «Draghi is one of the most authoritative Italians we have. I hope that in a role like this I can have an eye for consideration. It is good news”.
The prime minister then returned to criticize the super bonus for construction: «Giuseppe Conte campaigned for us for free, but the costs were passed on to the governments that came after», explained Meloni. “Measures for construction are always useful but they must be done with criteria”, he added, underlining that the superbonus cost “over 2,000 euros for every Italian citizen”. And again: «The building bonuses implemented by Conte have cost around 140 billion to date. On average, a budget law, which is the most important law of all, and is made on healthcare, work, families, public employment, is worth 20/30/35 billion. So it corresponds to 4 to 6 financial laws. Something must have gone wrong.”
“The issue of employee employment – he continued – has been our priority from the beginning, which is why we have concentrated resources on cutting the contribution wedge”.
Talking about the night raids with machine gun fire to the Camorra rampage that occurred in Caivano, Meloni stated: «Let me be clear that I am not intimidated by the “outbreaks” of organized crime». Then he added: «If it were true that there is someone who manages the citizens’ income money, that is, the Camorra, we need to get to the bottom of this thing. I hope the judiciary gets to the bottom of it.” As regards the agreement between Ita Airways and Lufthansa, «They’ve been telling us for years to find a solution, as a government we’ve found it and I expect everyone to say we’re good and that everyone is rowing in the same direction. We ask that Europe give us a hand.”
On the tax on extra profits: «I support the provision on banks, which I continue to think is right. I claim it, after which, for goodness’ sake, if there are corrective measures to be made for me they can be evaluated, but no backtracking.” Then he specified: «Changes can be made with the same revenue», which is «something less» than three billion». On constitutional reform, with the introduction of the premiership: «We are practically ready, I think that in the next few weeks we will officially present» the text. «The Italians asked us to do it, to give stability and the right to choose who to govern, we have put these two objectives in black and white, then we will see the debate in Parliament hoping that there can be convergences. As a rule, we took into account the indications of others. If there are not two thirds in Parliament, it will be the Italians who will express themselves in the referendum, added Meloni.
To Vespa’s question about the possibility of one coalition with socialists in the EU, he replied: «It’s very difficult, we haven’t done it in Italy, I don’t see why in Europe. But this debate about alliances and coalitions is very premature. I am interested in the fact that in the future Italy’s role is not marginal, and I hope that all the parties in the coalition at the European elections can grow. In Europe, alliances are made after the vote.” Finally, Meloni assured, repeating a cartoon by Osho in Roman dialect, that the bridge over the Strait of Messina will be built.