The longest-serving government in the history of the Italian Republic isn't just a sum of days. On its 1,413th day, from the stage in Bari, Giorgia Meloni emphasized the concept of stability, "the country's first great reform." Not a fad, but "a shield" to "protect this nation."
The benefits of stability, the Prime Minister reminds us, are primarily economic, because they favor businesses and enhance Italy's role in markets and globally. These four years have not been easy, she says, because it's not easy to "dislodge decades-old encrustations of power." It requires "time, patience, and a mountain of courage." There were days when, the Prime Minister confesses, "I felt like I was swimming in glue." But she warns those who try to hinder her: "Make yourselves comfortable! If you thought you could take advantage of us, well, you didn't understand who you were dealing with."
The stage is set for an event organized by the Brothers of Italy party, also attended by the other majority leaders, Forza Italia president Antonio Tajani and League secretary Matteo Salvini (her deputy prime ministers) via video link, and Noi Moderati leader Maurizio Lupi in attendance. From here, the occupant of Palazzo Chigi boasts "a higher consensus than we had on the first day." For this reason, the celebration feels like the start of the election campaign that will lead Italy to the polls next year.
In an increasingly unstable international context, domestically produced energy is at the heart of the strategy to protect the country. Nuclear power for the future ("after forty years we have reopened the way"), but oil for the present is also part of the recipe. "We intend to increase the percentage of extractable oil in our seas," Meloni announces, because "it makes no sense to go buy oil in Qatar if we have it in Basilicata." And because, she reiterates, "for us, the transition doesn't mean impoverishing families, it doesn't mean closing factories, it doesn't mean handing the future over to foreign powers, it means autonomy, it means innovation, it means technological neutrality." A plan that allows us to go beyond emergency decrees. "We have protected energy security with over €60 billion allocated to protect families and businesses from high energy costs, the social bonus raised to €315, lower bills for businesses, and a contribution requested by us from the energy giants," she emphasizes.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), with which "we set a precedent in Europe" for "spending money wisely," and a tax cut to boost purchasing power are among the milestones he recalls in his lengthy speech.
And finally, to Italians, both the majority and the opposition, from the Apulian city, the occupant of Palazzo Chigi promises: "I don't intend to give up and I don't intend to settle." And she intends, for the years to come, to "fight, take a chance, and relaunch." Because when someone looks back on these years in a few decades, "I don't care if people say we were the government that lasted the longest. I want them to say there was a moment when this nation stopped giving up."
The oppositions
The prime minister celebrates and the Italians pay the price, attacking the opposition.
"While Giorgia Meloni celebrates in Bari, 2,500 layoff letters are being sent to Taranto for workers in the former Ilva steelworks." Elly Schlein attacks the government and focuses on what the opposition parties unanimously call a "social emergency." "And the reality," adds the Democratic Party leader, "is that after these four years of the Meloni government, Italians are worse off, from the highest energy costs in Europe to some of the lowest wages, from skyrocketing fuel prices to a 30% increase in the price of their shopping cart ."
Angelo Bonelli of AVS also went on the attack: "Meloni is celebrating, while Italians pay the price for her disastrous economic and social policies : salaries among the lowest in Europe, energy among the most expensive on the continent, nearly 6 million people who have given up the healthcare they need, poverty and tax pressure at the highest levels."
Giuseppe Conte also took a harsh stab: "The government's longevity," the M5S leader emphasized, "is a temporal fact, but if this isn't matched by attention to the needs of Italians, then four years of nothing, of inertia, are not a positive note, but an aggravating factor. It is the longest-serving government, meaning it is most responsible for having done nothing ."
Matteo Renzi is cutting, even drawing on Roman dialect to comment on the government: "Ammazza ao'!" the leader of IV wrote on social media. "Giorgia Meloni can't contain herself today, she's enthusiastic, happy, and bursting with joy. But the political point is very simple: in these four years of government, we've put up with Salvini, Tajani, Urso, all those people. Was it worth it? Are we better off or worse off than we were four years ago? "
(Unioneonline)