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Italian senator suspended for going to work without Covid green pass

An Italian senator was suspended on Tuesday for ten days after entering the Senate building in Rome without a green pass, which is now required in all workplaces.

Published: 19 October 2021 18:44 CEST
Protesters in Rome demonstrate against Italy's 'green pass'.
Opponents to Italy's green pass scheme include some senators and members of parliament. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Laura Granato, a former member of the once anti-establishment Five StarMovement (M5S) who has since joined a breakaway group, will be deprived of her daily allowance for the ten days.

The 51-year-old was allowed into the Senate but later reported for refusing to show her “green pass”, the Italian health certificate which offers proof of a coronavirus vaccination, negative test result or recent recovery from Covid-19.

READ ALSO: How Italy is enforcing the new workplace green pass rules

She had been due to attend a parliamentary meeting on the Green Pass, which she described to reporters as a “certificate of obedience”.

Since Friday, the pass has been required of all public and private sector workers under some of the toughest health measures in the world.

The green pass is intended to boost vaccination rates, keep infections down and help Italy avoid the need for further economically damaging shutdowns, the government has said.

EXPLAINED: Where do you now need to show a Covid green pass in Italy?

The measure sparked pockets of protest in cities around Italy over the weekend, with the largest demonstration held by dock workers in the northeastern city of Trieste attracting around 6,500 people.

Meanwhile, more than a million Covid ‘green passes’ were downloaded on Monday as Italy began its first working week under the newly extended health certificate rules.

While the latest extension of Italy’s health pass requirement has prompted a slight increase in vaccinations, the download figures showed the vast majority chose to take a Covid test instead – around nine in ten of the passes released on Monday came from a swab rather than a jab.

Almost 86 percent of Italians over the age of 12 have received at least one vaccine dose and 81 percent are fully vaccinated, but at least three million workers are believed to remain unvaccinated.

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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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