“Our government has to manage a change of era. Anastasio is not my man. The landings? You can’t welcome everyone»- Corriere.it

Minister Francesco Lollobrigida – the man closest to Giorgia Meloni -, don’t you think that the Prime Minister’s constant reminder of having to face “the most difficult period since the post-war period” could sound victimizing? Especially when you create the problems yourself, like the case of Anastasio and his email that follows Mussolini’s speech after the Matteotti murder …

“In the meantime, let’s distinguish the two things.”

We distinguish. Claudius Anastasius is said to be close friends with him …

“Everything is being said about me now. Everyone knows me, I’m in charge of everything, I have enormous power management, I even end up in gossip. It is all absolutely false. I may have crossed paths with Anastasio, but he is certainly not “my man”. After the email, I inquired about his curriculum vitae: I was told it was relevant. Then if a person makes a wrong choice, it is right and proper for him to resign. What he wrote is not compatible with normality ».

What remains is that you give the idea of ​​experiencing an encirclement, as if everyone were angry with you. Do you really think there has never been a worse period since the war to govern?

«The point is that we have entered a new historical phase in which the era of certainties has come to an end. From the tranquility that certain things were not in question – freedom, rights, the security of a country – we have moved on to one in which, also because of the war, everything must be rewritten”.

For example what?

«Think of supplies. We took for granted that our primary needs – food, energy – could be delegated to poorer countries with lower costs. We didn’t create a system like Europe, the USA was also absent and we left our needs in the hands of unstable countries, so now we are paying the price. We as pro-Europeans used to say that this Europe needed to be changed, now everyone is saying it”.

So what do we do now?

«Now the supply chains need to be rebuilt – starting with the energy and food ones – not suffering the external situation but directing it. To have the possibility of choosing what to eat, how to live, but also to help the poorest countries to produce and in turn enter the supply chains in order to grow, so as not to export only masses of desperate people here and be exploited politically and economically by countries like China and Russia which, in Africa and beyond, have been penetrating for some time».

Are you already moving in this direction or are they just good intentions?

“We are moving very seriously. The trips of the premier, of the ministers, to countries in North Africa, India, the Middle East, serve precisely to re-establish relationships that have been lost over time as protagonists ».

Now we necessarily come to the case of migrants. With the decree and with the possible changes in the Chamber, are you preparing a tough squeeze?

«As we have always done, and Europe also acknowledges it today with Commissioner Johansson, we will continue to do everything to save lives. And to welcome those fleeing war, with political asylum. But in the numbers of those arriving, these are 8-10%. The others come for reasons that are understandable, but it is not possible to welcome them all».

But you, as a minister who deals with these matters, know well that it is the entrepreneurs themselves, the farmers, who are asking for a new workforce. How will you regulate the flows?

«We need a strong containment action. And together we must quickly sign collaboration agreements with several countries of origin of the migrants so that there, on the spot, they are trained for the jobs that are required here. Jobs that are by no means undignified, as some recipients of Citizenship Income lead us to believe by refusing them. As a minister, I am proud of the new law against illegal hiring which punishes those who exploit workers, almost always immigrants, sometimes treating them like slaves. We want integrated citizens, not second-class citizens».

And so in practice how will this workforce get here? And who will it consist of?

«Let’s think of three-year decrees – also to avoid the chaos of click-days – to bring in already trained personnel with basic knowledge of our language so that they can integrate immediately and that their training does not weigh so much on employers of work to push them to decentralize their activities directly abroad».

And all the others who would like to enter, what will happen to them?

“It is impossible to welcome everyone and it would not be done in a dignified way. A part would necessarily end up in the hands of criminals: it is no coincidence that foreigners in our territory are around 8.5% and in our prisons they are instead over 31%. Therefore, the countries of origin must be helped to transform their economies locally. It is the great Mattei plan that we are thinking about, and it is the commitment that all of Europe must make”.

However, it seems that in the majority there is a battle going on over who is making the most ferocious face on an issue that greatly affects public opinion. Does the League want to override you on the right?

«Look, the attempt to give a vision of the divided and quarrelsome government is legitimate, too bad it’s not true. It has even been written that I wanted to replace Piantedosi… Madness. The truth is that every decision is unanimous, that there are no xenophobic forces in the government and that we all reason together to arrive at the best possible solution”.

However, you insist a lot on the identity issues of the right, those that you carried forward in the electoral campaign. The latest is the no to the recognition of homoparenthood with the registration of children. Doesn’t this make a confrontation with the opposition impossible even on issues of national interest?

«Actually, if I look at my field, we are almost always united. Let the majority and the opposition work together, here and in Europe. On other issues there are obviously differences and different sensitivities. If freedom unites us all, there are those who think more about that of the parents and those of the children. But then there is public opinion: and it is the one which directs the choices with the vote».