At the Imperial Forums, the torpedoes of the navy parade among cockades and tricolours. But the real torpedo of the day, the only one to explode, is the one that the League sends in the direction of the Quirinale. And the detonation is so explosive that it obscures everything else: parade, celebration, solemnity of June 2nd. So much so that in the evening from the headquarters in via Bellerio they try to grab the fire extinguisher: “No controversy with Mattarella.” A few hours earlier, it was one of the loyalists of the Northern League deputy prime minister who lit the fuse: “The head of state must resign.” Saying it, or rather asking it via Twitter, is Claudio Borghi, Tuscan senator and spearhead of the hard and pure Northern League. No stranger to provocations and theses that make opponents and (sometimes) even allies jump out of their seats, from “no more euros” to the ban on EU flags on public buildings.
Yesterday, however, on the day of the Republic Day and – in theory – of national unity, Borghi targeted the highest office in the state. That in the letter to the prefects twenty-four hours earlier he had exalted the “European sovereignty” which “we will consecrate in a few days with the election of the EU Parliament”. Words that did not go down well with the Northern League senator. «June 2 is Italian Republic Day. Today the sovereignty of our nation is consecrated”, thunders the Northern League member via Twitter. Then the thrust: “If the president really thinks that sovereignty belongs to the European Union rather than Italy, for consistency’s sake he should resign, because his role would no longer make sense.” Words from the sen escaped? Far from it. Because the concept is reiterated in several tweets in a row: “If someone wants to change Article 1 of the Constitution and write that sovereignty belongs to the EU instead of to the People, all they have to do is file a bill”, this is the relaunch.
THE DISTANCES
And suddenly a day that began by celebrating the sense of national unity ignites. With the opposition forming a wall in defense of Mattarella and the centre-right splitting. On the one hand, Forza Italia and the moderates, with Antonio Tajani clearly distancing himself from his Northern League ally in the evening. “Solidarity with Mattarella for the attacks he has received,” the Forzista deputy prime minister tweets without mentioning Borghi. «We are Italian and European, this is our identity. And every anti-European choice is harmful for Italy: the head of state is right to underline our European perspective.” A decisive outcry, preceded by the equally clear words of Maurizio Lupi. «The attack on the President of the Republic is unacceptable and unspeakable. The League apologizes for these inappropriate and disrespectful words.” While no comments arrive from Fratelli d’Italia: nothing beyond those words pronounced early in the morning by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (which many oppositions call into question), on the “strength of the EU” which must return to being also ” the strength and specificity of national states”.
But the case, perhaps, would have been resolved if even Matteo Salvini, before the controversy completely exploded, had not in some way made his own the statements of Borghi interviewed on In half an hour. «Today – the words of the deputy prime minister on Raitre – is the day of the Republic, not of European sovereignty». And «national sovereignty is fundamental, beyond tweets. I will never surrender to a European super state where those who have the money are in charge.” The slowdown came only several hours later: «We are not asking for anyone’s resignation», corrects Salvini. «Borghi is an excellent senator of ours, and I think that the head of state has been misrepresented». Finally the note from the Northern League: «No controversy with Mattarella, but for the League, Italian national sovereignty comes before European sovereignty».
THE REACTIONS
Case closed? No way. The Democratic Party rises up: «Unacceptable attack, Meloni distances himself», says the leader of the Democratic group in the Senate Francesco Boccia. Giuseppe Conte follows him closely, for whom the request for resignation from the President of the Republic is “unworthy and inconclusive”. Matteo Renzi claims the “pride” of having indicated Mattarella’s name for Colle in 2015, Calenda lashes out at the Northern League leader: “If he doesn’t know what to say, keep quiet”. It is a flood of interventions in defense of the tenant of the Quirinale. Who – as always in these situations – remains silent. Perhaps waiting for the electoral campaign tones to calm down on their own, within a few days, once the halfway point of the European elections has passed.
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