FdI’s doubts about Piantedosi and that Meloni-Salvini clutch at Palazzo Chigi- Corriere.it

It was Matteo Piantedosi’s turn to raise the alarm for migrants in the Council of Ministers, confirming how high the level of concern is between the Interior Ministry and Palazzo Chigi. “With this trend of landings and the situation in Tunisia and Cyrenaica, at the end of the year we could count 300,000 migrants arriving on our shores – the Interior Minister began – It would be the highest figure in the history of the Republic”. Colleagues noticed the premier’s silence and each interpreted it in her own way, some as a sign of assent and some as a tacit dissent. Fear is high and a “big” from the Brothers of Italy reveals the embarrassment in the entourage of the president: “It is not easy to explain to our voters why landings are on the rise. They voted for us to have more security and now, seeing the stations full of African kids, they wonder what we are doing to change things».

With landings quadrupling compared to the first three months of last year, when a Draghi was there at Palazzo Chigi, it is understandable that all eyes were focused on Piantedosi yesterday. In the dramatic days of Cutro, the prime minister locked him up, aware that replacing the tenant of the Interior Ministry would have put the government’s stability at risk, but the grumbling continued to flow. A few days ago, Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano asked the head of the Interior Ministry for more caution in his utterances and after Cutro, many have noticed and perhaps appreciated his silence. Until Piantedosi slipped away with that unhappy reasoning about the do-gooders of certain public opinion, the “attractive factor” of irregular migrants. The one who continues to be very satisfied with “his” minister is Matteo Salvini. On Monday evening, in the Gardens of Eden in Rome, the deputy prime minister toasted once again his first fifty years and the only minister present was precisely the other “Matteo”. The leader of the League abounded in hugs and praises to sweep away the antipathic voices, which apparently also reached him: “Whoever touches Piantedosi touches the League”.

Throughout the day yesterday, the communication from the Northern League secretary and from MIT ha claimed and underlined, with notes and videos, how the leader “bent the NO party” with the new procurement code, promptly renamed the “Salvini Code”. But the CDM has seen a moment of friction with the premier. It happened precisely on tenders, when Salvini tried to archive the “pink sticker” which certifies gender equality in companies. “We have to lighten the bureaucracy,” suggested the Transport Minister. But the colleagues have arisen. Santanché, Roccella, Calderone and others have proposed changing the mechanism, but keeping the “sticker”. It was Meloni, collecting the assist from the ministers, who abruptly summed up: «We can’t touch the pink sticker, we can’t blow it up right now that there is a female prime minister. We will change the method of certification but the denomination must remain».

As for competition, the government quickly realized that it was not wise approve the decree without first having agreed with the EU the most delicate passages of the text. Urso and Giorgetti spoke, Fitto suggested “checking things carefully” and Meloni accepted the proposal of the minister of the Pnrr: “Let’s take another 48 hours and do things right”. Tomorrow there will be another Council of Ministers and the decree should be back on the table. Yesterday’s meeting was the coalition’s first testing ground after Berlusconi downsized Licia Ronzulli’s area and strengthened Antonio Tajani. With Forza Italia which, thanks to the pressure of the former prime minister’s children, increasingly resembles FdI, the navigation of the wheelhouse Meloni should become easier. At least on the home front. And unless Salvini decides to turn the spotlight back on himself, also in view of the nomination match.