«The leader of Action voted to oppose»- Corriere.it

The meeting between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the leader of Action Carlo Calenda, Tuesday morning at Palazzo Chigi, during which the leader of Action brought his proposals for the maneuver, sparked various criticisms and attacks. First the wrath of Forza Italia, with the group leaders Licia Ronzulli and Alessandro Cattaneo who accused Calenda of “elbowing in search of a role”, although he is “condemned to irrelevance”. Then the Pd, with Anna Ascani: «Calenda asked for votes for Draghi, he uses them to give Meloni a crutch».

For the leader of the Greens Angelo Bonelli “Calenda has its positions that are well known, what I am discussing is Giorgia Meloni’s lack of institutional sense because if she wanted to confront the opposition she had to launch an appeal for confrontation and not use Calenda as a tool of deterrence to send a message to her majority” . For the deputy it was “an institutional snub” and it was “an operation in which Meloni uses Calenda and Calenda let himself be used”. If instead the space should open up for a confrontation with all the oppositions, however, Bonelli says he is open to dialogue: in that case «we will go to Palazzo Chigi with our proposals. Parliament is the place of true confrontation. I would have no problem accepting it.”

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matthew Salvini quickly settles the question: «Calenda? We’ll have him open a construction site too. I haven’t followed the story, I’m not passionate about it, I don’t spend my days thinking about Renzi, Calenda and Letta. I have a pretty full schedule. Calenda was voted to oppose. I hope he does it constructively.” It aims to reassure the leader of Noi Moderati Maurizio Lupi: « Meloni and the centre-right are called to govern, Calenda and Renzi are called to oppose. If this opposition is done in a constructive way that is welcome. In the meeting with President Meloni we did not talk about the entry into the majority of Calenda and Renzi but about the battles that characterize our presence in the center-right: the family package is already in the maneuver, it can still be improved with aid for large families , those who have more children, with a single allowance».

The hypothesis of a majority entry of Calenda and Renzi? “This is the school of thought of the ill-thinking,” assures the Minister for Civil Protection and Marine Policies Nello Musumeci: the meeting at Palazzo Chigi is instead «an intelligent way of making an opposition, because the opposition must not have prejudices, must know how to control, must be able to stimulate, must be able to denounce when needed, but must also be able to propose. And I think this is the spirit that animated that political force in the parliamentary opposition topography. I believe that we can be in opposition while having a role of sharing and proposing on some issues. The majority has its own perimeter, there is no reason why it should undergo alterations».

The ally intervenes to defend Matthew Renzi: «I find the criticisms leveled at the Third Pole surreal because Calenda presented alternative proposals and amendments to President Meloni – says the leader of Italia viva -. For us, being in the opposition means putting forward credible alternative proposals: it is true that when Meloni was in opposition she did not behave like this and indeed attacked us in a superficial and indifferent way, but the fact that she was wrong today does not matter: we care about the institutions and we do whatever it takes to make them more civilized”.