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Uproar in Italy as guest injured after Italian MP takes gun to NYE party

An MP from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party was at the centre of a political storm on Tuesday after taking a gun to a New Year's Eve party where someone was shot with it.

Uproar in Italy as guest injured after Italian MP takes gun to NYE party
Fireworks at New Year Photo by MARIO TAMA / Getty Images via AFP)

Emanuele Pozzolo, a lawmaker for Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party, has admitted owning the mini revolver — reported to be a 22-calibre North American Arms revolver — but says he did not fire it.

It was discharged by accident, he said, causing a light injury to the leg of a guest, the son-in-law of a bodyguard of junior justice minister Andrea Delmastro — who was also in attendance.

“I confirm that the shot was accidentally fired from a pistol I legally held but it was not me that fired,” Pozzolo, 38, said in a statement cited by the La Repubblica daily.

The incident at the party in Rosazza near Turin, which about 30 guests attended, is under investigation, according to reports. But the story drew astonishment and outrage among opposition politicians.

Possession of firearms in Italy is strictly regulated, although Meloni’s party last month proposed to reduce to 16 the minimum age at which someone can obtain a permit for a hunting rifle.

“We could not have imagined that the passion for weapons of Giorgia Meloni’s party was such that MPs would take them loaded to New Year’s Eve parties,” said Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.

 Former centrist prime minister Matteo Renzi added: “Why bring guns to a New Year’s Eve party in the presence of MPs and members of the government?

“Meloni’s (party) are not a ruling class. They are inadequate, incapable, unpresentable. And dangerous, first and foremost for themselves.”

Neither Meloni or her party has yet to react officially.

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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.

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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