Italian politician urges public to protest against his own government

Luigi Di Maio, of the Five Star Movement, has called upon the general public to protest against his government due to tensions with his party’s coalition master.

Published: 15 February 2020 17:05 CET

Italian politician urges public to protest against his own government

Luigi di Maio. Image: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD/AFP

Currently the Foreign Minister, Di Maio was until recently the leader of the Five Star Movement, which is currently part of a ruling coalition government.

He stepped down as party leader in January, saying he was “exhausted”, though remains in his post as Italy's foreign minister.

He said the people of Italy must peacefully demonstrate against the government, which is made up of the populist M5S and the centre-left Democratic Party.

The uneasy coalition was formed to prevent new elections which may have led to the election of the far-right Matteo Salvini, however it has been beset by tensions ever since.

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The Five Star Movement has suffered from a drop in support recently, as well as the resignation of several key members of the party.

Initially founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, the party took one a third of the vote (33 percent) in the March 2018 elections but has seen support decline since then.

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” — adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The “Report” programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.