«I stand tall, convinced that the mafia can be beaten. Manfredi Borsellino gave me a portrait of his father »-Corriere.it

«We are convinced that the battle against the mafia can be won. I always walk with my head held high, I’ve never run away». And then: «Manfredi Borsellino gave me a portrait of his father». These are the first words of Giorgia Meloni, in Palermo, on the anniversary of the massacre in via D’Amelio, where on 19 July 1992 the mafia killed the judge Paolo Borsellino and five agents of the escort.

The Order and Security Committee was held in the Prefecture, chaired by the Prime Minister together with the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi and the heads of the police forces.

«The things you want to do are done and after all you can avoid talking. Nordio answered a question about the external competition, but he himself said that it is not foreseen in the government program and in fact it does not exist. Perhaps he should be more political », underlines Meloni. For Meloni it is the case of “a personal response”, which becomes “a fact when a fact is not, because the facts are that we have saved the impediment prison, that 1,300 mafiosi have been arrested, that we have defended the anti-mafia legislation. They are opinions that become facts and opinions become facts when you want to make a specious polemic».

And then: «Those who make these controversies do not help the institutions. I was amazed by what I read in the newspapers: an invented controversy about the fact that I would have chosen not to participate in the demonstration for fear of being challenged. Who can challenge me? The Mafia? The mafia can challenge a government that has done everything that needed to be done to fight organized crime. But I’ve never run away in my entire life. I am a person who always allows himself to walk with his head held high. I’m here today and will always be here to fight the mafia.”

The prime minister then recalls the reason why her commitment began as a young girl: «I began to get into politics when they killed Paolo Borsellino, a few weeks after the murder of Falcone, and the theme of that example of men from institutions aware of the risks and that despite everything they do their job remains one of the most symbolic elements that prompted me to enter politics”.

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