On abuse of office, the majority goes haywire under Nordio’s eyes

Baruffa on the right in the Justice Commission, under the eyes of the Minister of Justice. The majority cracking, the Keeper snorting, all within a handful of flights of stairs. In Transatlantic Charles Nordio shows up at 3 in the afternoon. The crime, on the fourth floor of Montecitorio, has just taken place. “I know, I know,” the minister hisses. He knows, that is, that in the Justice Committee, Forza Italia proposed to vote on a bill that repeals the abuse of office. A flight forward, they complain in Via Arenula, where they explain that “a more organic provision is being prepared on the subject”. Only that the blue deputies, led by Peter Pittalisdefend their initiative in the name of parliamentary autonomy. “Also because – they point out – we have been stopped for months on the abuse of office.

Nordio had promised an intervention by May: we are on June 7, and still nothing. In short, it doesn’t take much to understand that there is a risk of a diplomatic incident. And so Nordio, who in the meantime is arriving in the Chamber to answer Question Time (questioned, needless to say, on the delays of his reforms), gives the signal: “Stop everything”. And so his deputy minister, Francis Paul Sisto, also a force supporter, is forced to stall, annoying his own party colleagues: “Let’s update to tomorrow, let’s postpone the vote for 24 hours”, he says. The President of the Commission, the Melonian Cyrus Male, he agrees. And it is at that point that the exponents of FI get up and leave the room, blatantly abandoning the session. In between, moreover, there is the League. And there is, above all, the opposition of Julia Bongiorno to the hypotheses of total abrogation of the crime of abuse of office. This too pushes Nordio to brake, to order a stop. Which, however, at least for now, guarantees just 24 hours of peace. Tomorrow the Justice Commission meets again. On the agenda, needless to say, the abuse of office.

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• Valerio Valentini

• Born in L’Aquila, in 1991. Grew up in Collemare, up there in the Apennines. Classical high school diploma, degree in Modern Literature at the University of Trento. Al Foglio since 2017. I wrote a book, “Gli 80 di Camporammaglia”, published by Laterza, with which I won the Campiello Opera Prima award in 2018. I like good books and good cinema. And cycling, everything, even the bad stuff.