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Italy’s coalition government faces split over possible Salvini kidnap trial

Italy's Five Star Movement is using an online poll to help it decide whether to block a potential trial against League leader and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for alleged kidnapping and abuse of power.

Published: 18 February 2019 16:34 CET
Italy's coalition government faces split over possible Salvini kidnap trial
League leader Matteo Salvini could face trial. Photo: AFP

Prosecutors in southern Italy are pushing for an investigation into Salvini’s actions after the head of the far-right League party refused to let migrants disembark from a rescue ship.

The Five Star Movement (M5S) and League have been governing in an uneasy coalition since June but frequently clash over key electoral pledges.

M5S, billed as an anti-establishment party, prides itself on honesty and has long railed against politicians who have used their parliamentary privilege to avoid trials. It previously said that any minister accused of a crime should resign.

Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio. Photo: AFP

But the party seems reluctant to upset its coalition partner, and commentators think it is likely to vote to block the trial.

The M5S official blog told members this case was “different” from those where ministers had tried to get away with “bribes, fraud or rigging the markets”, because Salvini was doing his job and “not acting for personal interest”.

The movement's leader Luigi Di Maio has said Salvini was acting with their full support and that he would would stand trial alongside him.

The case concerns the stand-off over the Diciotti, which was left in limbo for ten days in August after taking onboard more than 150 people, including children, who Salvini refused permission to land in Italy. 

The ship was eventually allowed to disembark in Sicily only after the Catholic Church had brokered a deal with Ireland and Albania to take the migrants in.

READ ALSO: 'Italian ports are closed', Salvini warns migrant rescue ship seeking shelter from storm

A Senate committee is scheduled to discuss the matter on Tuesday, after which the Senate will vote – with M5S senators taking their lead from the result of the online poll.

The final word on whether Salvini can keep his protection lies with parliament. 

Photo: Alessandro Fucarini/AFP

The M5S poll, which is being held today, allows party members to say whether they think Salvini should be stripped of parliamentary protection, allowing a possible trial.

However, the poll question put to members was ridiculed by both M5S sympathisers and the opposition as being purposefully misleading.

“Was the delay in the disembarkation of the Diciotti, in order to redistribute the migrants in various European countries, taken in order to protect the interests of the state?” the question reads.

Answering “Yes” will stop the investigation, while “No” allows prosecutors to continue, according to the website.

Salvini, whose League party has soared ahead of the M5S in popularity in the polls, said Sunday he was not worried about the vote because he had “given (his) word” that the government would not fall.

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EU

Italy’s Meloni hopes EU ‘understands message’ from voters

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Saturday she hoped the European Union would understand the "message" sent by voters in last weekend's elections, after far-right parties such as hers made gains.

Published: 15 June 2024 17:33 CEST
Italy's Meloni hopes EU 'understands message' from voters

Meloni, head of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, which performed particularly well in the vote, urged the EU to “understand the message that has come from European citizens”.

“Because if we want to draw lessons from the vote that everything was fine, I fear it would be a slightly distorted reading,” she told a press conference at the end of a G7 summit in Puglia.

“European citizens are calling for pragmatism, they are calling for an approach that is much less ideological on several major issues,” she said.

Meloni’s right-wing government coalition has vehemently opposed the European Green Deal and wants a harder stance on migration.

“Citizens vote for a reason. It seems to me that a message has arrived, and it has arrived clearly,” she said.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Monday to negotiate the top jobs, including whether European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will get a second term.

Von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s Party strengthened its grip with the vote, but her reconfirmation is not yet in the bag.

The 65-year-old conservative was in Puglia for the G7 and likely used the summit to put her case to the leaders of France, Germany and Italy.

But Meloni refused to be drawn on whom she is backing.

“We will have a meeting on Monday, we’ll see,” she told journalists.

“We will also see what the evaluations will be on the other top roles,” she said.

Italian political watchers say Meloni is expected to back von der Leyen, but is unlikely to confirm that openly until Rome locks in a deal on commissioner jobs.

“What interests me is that… Italy is recognised for the role it deserves,” she said.

“I will then make my assessments.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani indicated that it was unlikely any decision would be made before the French elections on June 30 and July 7.

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