Letta: "We want to know if it was Putin who brought Draghi down"
Enrico Letta, leader of the Democratic Party (PD), Italy's main progressive party, said today that the journalistic revelations about the links of the far-right leader Matteo Salvini with Russia "are disturbing" and that it is necessary to know whether it was Russian President Vladimir Putin who brought about the end of Mario Draghi's government.
"We want to know if it was Putin who brought down the Draghi government," Letta said after the newspaper 'La Stampa' revealed on Thursday that, according to intelligence documents, there were alleged contacts between an adviser to Salvini and an official of the Russian embassy in Rome for an eventual withdrawal of ministers belonging to the far-right party from the Italian government. However, the Delegated Authority for the Security of the Republic later denied the involvement of the intelligence services in the affair, saying it was "totally unfounded".
Draghi resigned last week after Salvini's League, along with Silvio Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia (FI) and Giuseppe Conte's populist 5 Star Movement (M5S), withdrew their parliamentary support and forced early elections after forcing the fall of the "national unity" government.
"Today's findings in 'La Stampa' about the links between Salvini and Putin's Russia are disturbing, the election campaign starts in the worst way, with a huge stain. We want to know if it was Putin who brought down Draghi's government," Letta said. The former prime minister announced that he is going to ask for the intervention of the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (Copasir), which controls the intelligence services, because "if that were the case, it would be something of infinite gravity".
Salvini described the 'La Stampa' reports as "fake news" and "nonsense", announcing the institutional denial that followed shortly afterwards. "It seems to me the usual fantasy about Putin, fascism, racism, Nazism, sovereignism. I don't think Putin is behind the waste-to-energy plant in Rome," he added, alluding to the incinerator that was one of the M5S's causes for not supporting Draghi.
The PD and the centrist Italia Viva (IV) have already called for an urgent briefing in the Chamber of Deputies on the alleged contacts between Salvini and Russia revealed by the newspaper, while acting foreign minister Luigi Di Maio also asked the League leader for explanations and warned of the need to "beware of Russian influences in this election campaign".
Di Maio, who recently left the M5S, the party he led until January 2020, had already warned on 15 July that in Moscow "they were toasting" because "Draghi's head had been served to Putin", referring to the League and the M5S, described as pro-Russian because of their good relations with Moscow. And after Draghi's fall, Copasir president Adolfo Urso revealed that they were "taking care" of the matter when asked about the possible influence of Russian disinformation services in the election campaign: "We are one of their main targets".
Tg5. Lavoro, tasse, sicurezza: azzeramento della legge Fornero (obiettivo #quota41), estensione della #flattax anche ai lavoratori dipendenti, blocco degli sbarchi di migliaia di clandestini (l’ho fatto quando ero ministro, e lo rifarò).
— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) July 27, 2022
Noi guardiamo ai temi concreti! pic.twitter.com/cFdG7HQIIf
Italy's right-wing leaders, conservative Silvio Berlusconi and far-right leaders Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni, on Wednesday revalidated their alliance ahead of the 25 September general election and agreed that, in the event of a win, the prime minister will be indicated by the one with the most votes. "The centre-right - as the coalition calls itself - has reached a full agreement and started working to win the next elections and build a stable and united government, with a shared and innovative programme," read a brief joint statement.
Salvini (League), Meloni (Brothers of Italy) and Berlusconi (Forza Italia), as well as other small right-wing parties, met for hours on Wednesday at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome to prepare for the general election campaign on 25 September.
One of the key issues at the meeting was who would choose the prime minister if, as polls predict, the right-wing coalition wins against the centre-left bloc. "The coalition will propose to the president of the republic as prime minister the exponent indicated by whoever has won the most votes," the right-wing leaders agreed, putting it in writing.
The issue follows weeks of divergence as Meloni is already the country's leading force in the polls, having emerged as the only opposition in the last year and a half to Mario Draghi's unity government, which Salvini and Berlusconi supported until it collapsed last week. In fact, if the polls on voting intentions are true, she would take Salvini's place at the head of the Italian right. Moreover, according to media reports, the veteran Berlusconi is not happy to show Meloni's chances of governing the country given his far-right positions, aligned with parties such as Spain's Vox or Viktor Orbán's Hungarian Fidesz.
The communiqué, however, does not specify whether any of the three leaders will be able to propose themselves as future president, whether Meloni, for example, in the event of winning, could nominate herself as a candidate for prime minister. On the other hand, they also reached agreement on the candidacies in the different constituencies and the coalition will stand united in the 221 single-member constituencies, in which approximately 35% of the seats in parliament are distributed.
"The unity of the centre-right is the best possible response to the often vulgar accusations and attacks of an already desperate left, in a makeshift coalition, which the Italians will send home on 25 September", they conclude. And the fact is that, from the left, Enrico Letta's Democratic Party is trying to rebuild a large progressive coalition with numerous parties that oppose the right, although excluding the 5 Star Movement, which has been widely criticised for also causing Draghi's downfall.
