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Why is Italian PM Conte being accused of a conflict of interest?

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has denied accusations of conflict of interest after reports linked him to an allegedly corrupt investment fund now being investigated by the Vatican.

Published: 28 October 2019 12:23 CET
Why is Italian PM Conte being accused of a conflict of interest?
Italian PM Giuseppe Conte has denied accusations of conflict of interest. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Conte's office stated on Monday that he “only gave a legal opinion” when advising the investment fund in question before he became Prime Minister in 2018.

Lawyer Conte did not know the deal he'd advised on was linked to a Vatican-backed investment fund that is now under investigation for possible corruption, his office said.

Conte was hired in May 2018 to provide a legal opinion in favour of Fiber 4.0, a shareholder group involved in a fight for control of telecoms company Retelit, according to a report in the UK's Financial Times on Monday.

The lead investor in Fiber 4.0 was Athena Global Opportunities, funded entirely by $200 million from the Vatican Secretariat, the FT wrote.

The British newspaper linked the story of Conte advising on the deal, which has long been reported in the Italian press, to an ongoing Vatican financial investigation.

The internal probe at the Vatican is said to be centred on an Athena property deal in London.

So far it has resulted in the suspension of five employees and the resignation of the pope's chief of security.

The prime minister has faced accusations of a conflict of interest over the Retelit deal, after issuing a decree based on Italy's “golden powers” laws that favoured Fiber 4.0 shortly after coming to power.

Photo: AFP

“There is no conflict of interest,” the prime minister's office stated.

“Conte only gave a legal opinion and was not aware of, and not required to know that, some investors were linked to an investment fund supported by the Vatican and now at the centre of an investigation,” the PM's office said.

PROFILE: Italy's PM Conte, the 'Mr Nobody' who found his voice

Conte, who was a virtual unknown when he was selected to form his first government in June 2018, had been charged with drawing up a legal opinion on the government's possible use of golden powers.

“Of course, at that time no-one could have imagined that, a few weeks later, a government chaired by the same Conte would be called to rule on that precise issue,” it said in a statement.

“To avoid any possible conflict of interest, Prime Minister Conte formally abstained from any decision on the exercise of golden power,” it added.

The “golden powers” allow the government to block foreign control of companies deemed to be of strategic national importance.

READ ALSO: Giuseppe Conte: How Italy's prime minister survived the collapse of his governmentf

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POLITICS

‘Worrying developments’: NGOs warn of growing pressure on Italian media freedom

Media freedom in Italy has come increasingly under pressure since Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government took office, a group of European NGOs warned on Friday following an urgent fact-finding summit.

Published: 17 May 2024 17:40 CEST
‘Worrying developments’: NGOs warn of growing pressure on Italian media freedom

They highlighted among their concerns the continued criminalisation of defamation – a law Meloni herself has used against a high-profile journalist – and the proposed takeover of a major news agency by a right-wing MP.

The two-day mission, led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), was planned for the autumn but brought forward due to “worrying developments”, Andreas Lamm of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) told a press conference.

The ECPMF’s monitoring project, which records incidents affecting media freedom such as legal action, editorial interference and physical attacks, recorded a spike in Italy’s numbers from 46 in 2022 to 80 in 2023.

There have been 49 so far this year.

Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, took office as head of a hard-right coalition government in October 2022.

A key concern of the NGOs is the increased political influence over the RAI public broadcaster, which triggered a strike by its journalists this month.

READ ALSO: Italy’s press freedom ranking drops amid fears of government ‘censorship’

“We know RAI was always politicised…but now we are at another level,” said Renate Schroeder, director of the Brussels-based EFJ.

The NGO representatives – who will write up a formal report in the coming weeks – recommended the appointment of fully independent directors to RAI, among other measures.

They also raised concerns about the failure of repeated Italian governments to decriminalise defamation, despite calls for reform by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Meloni herself successfully sued journalist Roberto Saviano last year for criticising her attitude to migrants.

“In a European democracy a prime minister does not respond to criticism by legally intimidating writers like Saviano,” said David Diaz-Jogeix of London-based Article 19.

He said that a proposed reform being debated in parliament, which would replace imprisonment with fines of up to 50,000 euros, “does not meet the bare minimum of international and European standards of freedom of expression”.

The experts also warned about the mooted takeover of the AGI news agency by a group owned by a member of parliament with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party – a proposal that also triggered journalist strikes.

READ ALSO: How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

Beatrice Chioccioli of the International Press Institute said it posed a “significant risk for the editorial independence” of the agency.

The so-called Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium expressed disappointment that no member of Meloni’s coalition responded to requests to meet with them.

They said that, as things stand, Italy is likely to be in breach of a new EU media freedom law, introduced partly because of fears of deteriorating standards in countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Schroeder said next month’s European Parliament elections could be a “turning point”, warning that an increase in power of the far-right across the bloc “will have an influence also on media freedom”.

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