Parliamentary Political News, edition of 10 June 2024

There is talk of European elections, the election of Ilaria Salis and the Matteotti crime

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, MELONI WINS BIG BUT IT’S A RECORD ABSTENTION

European elections, clear confirmation for the government led by Giorgia Meloni. While in Europe the governments of France and Germany suffer a thud, Fratelli d’Italia, led by its leader, comes close to 29%. “It wasn’t a given,” says the prime minister, confessing that the excellent result satisfies her even more than the policies, when the party took 26%, bringing the center-right coalition to Palazzo Chigi. For the prime minister there were around 2.5 million preferences. On the opposition front, Elly Schlein’s Democratic Party achieved an exploit with 24%. Renzi and Calenda are out. Stock and the United States of Europe did not exceed the 4% threshold. Despite the results of the individual parties, abstention prevailed in the polls: turnout fell below 50%.

SCHLEIN SURPRISE AND M5S COLLAPSE, VANNACCI ‘SAVES’ THE LEAGUE

The Democratic Party smiles, the Five Star Movement cries. On the front of the alternative to the government, for secretary Elly Schlein today is a “beautiful day” with “an extraordinary result from a strong and plural team”. The dem leader claims to be “the party that has grown the most since the previous elections with 5 points and 2 from the 2019 European elections”. And it stands as the leading party in the South, overtaking M5s. For the Five Star Movement the consensus is 10%, the lowest ever. “We take note of a disappointing result. We will do an internal reflection”, is the comment of former prime minister Giuseppe Conte. On the centre-right front, Forza Italia joins the League. Both around 9%. In Salvini’s party, General Roberto Vannacci is hoarding the preferences: half a million votes went to him.

ILARIA SALIS ELETTA, THE FATHER: NOW FOR IMMUNITY

Ilaria Salis elected MEP. The teacher from Brianza, in prison in Hungary for 15 months, accused of attacking right-wing extremists during a demonstration in Budapest, obtained 170 thousand preferences on the list of the Green and Left Alliance. In the islands he got more votes than General Vannacci. The father was moved: “Ilaria made a courageous choice, she fought and dared. We must complete the work and bring it home”. Roberto Salis explains that the judge will order immunity after the Hungarian minister gives the go-ahead. The head of the Farnesina Antonio Tajani specifies that it is up to Italy and the EU Parliament to notify the Hungarian authority of Salis’s election but that it is necessary to wait for the proclamation first. Avs replies: “Tajani like Pontius Pilate”.

MATTEOTTI, MATTARELLA CRIME: IT WAS AN ATTACK ON PARLIAMENT

On the occasion of the centenary of the Matteotti crime, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, placed a wreath of flowers on the Arnaldo da Brescia monument on the Lungotevere. Here the socialist parliamentarian, in June 1924, was kidnapped and then killed after having reported the fascist violence to the Chamber. The body was found two months later, on August 16, in Riano. In a message the head of state wrote: “The Republic bows to the memory of Giacomo Matteotti, defender of the subordinate classes and martyr of democracy”. His kidnapping, “which was followed by his cruel, barbaric killing, was an attack on Parliament and on the freedom of all Italians and represented a watershed in national history”, concluded Mattarella.