from Rome
Case is closed. At least for now. The reason is, the clashes that occurred in the last 48 hours between Brothers Italia and Quirinale are unlikely to have any consequences. Or, at least, this can be seen by sequencing the various key parts of Tuesday’s confrontation between Fdi and Colle and the subsequent ceasefire signed yesterday.
But let’s start in order. By midday, it was Giorgia Meloni who took the initiative. The Prime Minister called Sergio Mattarella – a phone call Colle had been waiting for since the previous evening – and offered him a clarifying conversation. That happened a few hours later, when – having just returned to Rome from Mestre – the Prime Minister appeared at the Quirinale. A meeting that effectively closed the controversy opened by the head of the group in the Fdi Chamber Galeazzo Bignami (who on Tuesday requested the rejection of La Verità’s article about Colle’s alleged plot against the prime minister based on some remarks of council member Francesco Saverio Garofani).
But then there are the details. The first is that the interview lasted about twenty minutes, which is barely enough time to say “good morning.” It is a thermometer of coldness which during the day is partly assuaged by the desire not to aggravate the temper. The second was that a few hours after the face-to-face meeting Meloni announced that he had gone to the Colle “to reaffirm the institutional harmony that exists between the Palazzo Chigi and the Quirinale, which has never failed since the government took office and no one has ever doubted it”. But the Prime Minister also wanted to state that he had “expressed his regret to the Head of State” for the “institutionally and politically inappropriate words spoken in a public context” by Garofani. In short, Meloni did not take a step back from Bignami’s request for clarification which, the prime minister said, was not an attack on Quirinale but “a way to limit the issue to its true scope”. A request, made by the leader of the Fdi group, Colle responded to by expressing “surprise” at those who believed in an attack that was “constructed almost ridiculously”.
Meloni, assured those who had the opportunity to listen to him, did not hesitate to personally define Garofani’s exit as “intolerable” and “unacceptable.” Although according to several majority sources, he will not ask Mattarella to resign. A situation that actually takes time, because repeating his disappointment with Garofani clearly risks creating a kind of de facto incompatibility. Apart from being an advisor to the head of state on matters of the Supreme Defense Council since February 2022, in fact Garofani, the first non-military person to hold that position, also serves as secretary of the body. These include Mattarella as president and Meloni as vice president. In short, a decent short circuit.
Moreover, for most of the afternoon, Fratelli d’Italia parliamentarians kept a close eye on Garofani (the harshest of whom was Marco Osnato, according to whom the head of state had chosen “someone proven unfit for the role” of advisor). This case has actually reopened old wounds and some people are resurrecting the “shock” that occurred in 2011 which led to the fall of Silvio Berlusconi’s last government. “An operation – clearly an Fdi bigwig – in which then president Giorgio Napolitano had a leading role”.
But at the Quirinale, they weren’t too fond of the barrage after a meeting that was supposed to provide clarification. So in the evening, a joint note from the heads of the Chamber and Senate groups, Bignami and Lucio Malan, arrived. “The Italian brothers – they say – consider the matter closed and do not intend to add anything more.
We renew our respect for Mattarella and our appreciation for the institutional harmony between the Quirinale and Palazzo Chigi”. Il Colle informally confirmed: “Case closed”.
After 48 hours on a roller coaster, a ceasefire was finally signed. But it doesn’t look like it will last long.
