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POLITICS

Italy’s pro-Trump parties condemn Syria air strikes

Italy's far-right Northern League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement have spoken out strongly against US President Donald Trump's air strikes on Syria, while the country's foreign minister said he "understood the reasons" for the attack.

Published: 7 April 2017 10:28 CEST
Italy's pro-Trump parties condemn Syria air strikes
File photo: Emmanuel Dunand, Andreas Solaro/AFP

Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano described the air strikes, carried out in response to a suspected chemical attack, as a “proportionate response in time and manner” which would act as a deterrent against further chemical attacks.

However, two of the main Italian oppostion parties – both of which have previously shown support for the American leader – appeared to distance themselves from Trump on Friday morning with comments condemning the missile strikes.

Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Trump's decision was a “bad idea, big mistake, and a gift to Isis”.

“Haven't the disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya taught them [the US administration] anything?” he asked, writing on his Facebook page. 

Meanwhile, the Five Star Movement said the attacks were “likely to constitute a clear violation of international law” and added: “After 20 years of mistakes, it seems that nothing has changed, unfortunately.”

Leader Beppe Grillo had on Thursday called for an immediate UN investigation into the apparent chemical attack on Syria, and the note on Friday criticized the US administration for “preferring to bomb before the independent inquiry.”

“The solution to war cannot be another war,” the party said.

Friday's criticism was a contrast to previous shows of support for Trump from both parties. In November, Salvini posted a series of jubilant tweets celebrating Trump's victory in the US elections, saying “Americans, thank you, thank you and thank you!” 

He has previously hailed Trump as “heroic”,  and shared photos of the pair grinning and doing a thumbs-up sign together. However, Trump snubbed the far-right leader following the meeting, saying: “I didn't want to meet him, I don't even know him”.

Five Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo did not formally endorse Trump, but praised him on his victory in a blogpost saying that it represented a “fuck you” to the establishment.

Elsewhere in Europe, France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen also said she “strongly condemned” the strikes on Syria. 

READ MORE: Le Pen shocked by Trump's decision to bomb Syria

And the French President Francois Hollande issued a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bore “sole responsibility” for the US strike.

READ ALSO: Five things President Trump could mean for Italy

What does President Trump mean for Italy?
Photo: Jim Watson/AFP

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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