From the Zaki case to Ukraine. The state of grace of Giorgia Meloni

It’s just bullshit talk. But are we sure it’s really a drama? For days, the public debate in our country seems to have hinged on issues that simply do not exist. There is talk of external competition, but nobody has really proposed to abolish it. There is talk of a judicial siege, but no prosecution has carried out ad personam actions against members of the government. Tensions are discussed with the Quirinal on the review of the abuse of office, but then the Quirinal calmly signs the law within a few days. There is discussion about how to ban synthetic meat, but synthetic meat has never been authorized by anyone. There is discussion of a new fiscal peace, but in the meantime the government writes deeds to automatically seize the tax evaders’ current accounts. People discuss how bad the ECB is at raising rates, but then rejoice when inflation starts to fall. There is obviously discussion of the government’s profound disinterest in relation to the arrest of Patrick Zaki, but the day after the condemnation of the Egyptian activist, Italian diplomacy – it happened yesterday – obtained a pardon for Zaki from President al Sisi. And then, yes, of course, we discuss and argue about something else too. There is a long discussion about a performance at the Strega prize by Minister Sangiuliano. There is a long discussion about some release of Ignazio La Russa. There is a long discussion about an article by Filippo Facci. But in the end, the impression is always the same: for months, in Italy, there has been more fighting over what is said than what is done. And the reason is all too obvious. On what is said, within the government, there are many reasons to kill each other – and often the reasons for killing themselves are offered by the members of the majority, who tend to communicate to their constituents the opposite of what they do while they govern. On what is done, within the government’s action, there are instead few reasons to take oneself seriously at the counter – and it is no coincidence that a large part of the quarrels between the majority and the opposition arise more from what is said in words than from what is done in deeds. At first glance, by lining up these dots, one might get depressed and think, my lady, that never before has politics fallen so low as in this historical season.