Giorgia Meloni welcomes Sgarbi's resignation but the undersecretary for Cultural Heritage specifies that she will formalize it only after the TAR's ruling on her appeal against the Antitrust resolution.
"After the Antitrust ruling, I find Sgarbi's choice to be correct, so I welcome his resignation ," says the prime minister, speaking to reporters from Japan. Meloni then replies to Sgarbi, who was asking for further checks of incompatibility in the executive: «When we are asked how we did with him, I waited to have objective elements, I hope that Sgarbi who was able to count on a government that was waiting for some objective elements do not expect that same government to decide for others with elements that are not objective because it would be objectively excessive".
The undersecretary, for his part, says he is "happy" that Meloni has accepted the resignation. «I stick to what you say», he declares, but specifies that at the moment he is only self-suspended and that the resignation will be effective only after the TAR's ruling on his appeal : «I will leave even in the case of a favorable sentence. In the meantime I'm self-suspending. But I do not want, with my immediate resignation, to hinder the TAR proceeding which provides for the suspension of the antitrust resolution. Meloni must have a clear picture of my incompatibilities presented by the antitrust in arbitrary and contradictory terms, without a comparative evaluation of other obvious incompatibilities of members of the executive ."
But why did Sgarbi end up in the crosshairs of the antitrust? According to the authority, some of his activities such as participation in conferences, exhibition openings, book sales, would be in conflict with the Frattini law on conflict of interests . The law establishes that a holder of government offices, in carrying out their duties, cannot "exercise professional activities in matters connected with the government office, of any nature, even if unpaid" and that they can "only receive the proceeds for the services carried out before taking office" .
Meanwhile, the motion with which the opposition asks the government to revoke Sgarbi's appointment as undersecretary remains scheduled in the work of the Chamber. And he will remain until his resignation is officially formalized.