For the liberal and Euro-Atlanticist party that was Silvio Berlusconi‘s, the balancing acts are becoming more daring every day. It has not been easy to be the center of a coalition where the right-wing parties are the post-fascist and sovereigntist one of Giorgia Meloni and the post-secessionist and Eurosceptic one of Matteo Salvini. Even more complicated is now finding oneself at the center of an alliance that day by day takes a step towards the extreme, in pursuit of General Roberto Vannacci.
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The distinctions on the Roggero case
Signs of distress and fears of throwing away the commitment to winning over the moderate and Catholic electorate abound. The Roggero case is emblematic: the blue leader Antonio Tajani had to join the request for pardon, despite the institutional blunder of the investigation’s start announced by the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, without prior consultation with the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, the only one who can grant the act of clemency. But in several statements and interviews, he had to clarify Forza Italia’s position to distance itself from the excesses of those turning the jeweler sentenced to 14 years and 9 months in prison for killing two robbers into a hero. “He made a mistake for us,” Tajani emphasized, but “we believe social forgiveness for this man is right and appropriate.”
The “no” to self-defense in the Lega style
Very different is expanding the scope of self-defense beyond the extension already decided in 2019, when Matteo Salvini was leading the Interior Ministry. The bill proposed by the Lega, which aims to justify and make unpunishable any reaction to an aggression by removing both the immediacy of the danger and proportionality, is “unacceptable” for Forza Italia, as the blue Deputy Minister of Justice, Francesco Paolo Sisto, bluntly stated. It violates “the cornerstones of criminal law.”
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The clash with Fdi on justice
But it is not only with the Lega, in crisis of consensus, that Forza Italia finds itself distant. A similar distance is recorded with the battle, entirely by Fdi, to amend the wiretapping rules in the Justice decree under Senate examination. An amendment signed by the Meloni supporter Giovanni Berrino (Fdi) wants to extend the usability of wiretaps also in proceedings different from those for which they were authorized thanks to the reference to “spy crimes.” According to the blues, however, the current regulation already allows the reuse of wiretaps in mafia and terrorism proceedings. Further extending their use would risk bringing back “dragnet” wiretaps, turning an exception into a rule and restricting the right to communication secrecy.
The leadership issue
Complicating the picture—and the mediation of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni—is the issue of the blue leadership. “How can political agreements be sought if those sitting at the table are not the decision-makers?” vents a senior Fdi figure off the record. The reference is, of course, to Marina Berlusconi. Especially in the Senate, where the Forza Italia group leader is Stefania Craxi, she is suspected of dictating the line on this and other issues, starting with the electoral law that saw the preferences dear to Meloni sunk in the secrecy of the ballot box even by important parts of the majority. The commitment to reform the wiretapping system for the Prime Minister and the president of the Antimafia commission, Chiara Colosimo, would be essential, undertaken to respond to the alarm repeatedly raised by the National Antimafia Prosecutor Giovanni Melillo, who contested the 2023 law that effectively prevents the use for spy crimes emerging in intercepted conversations.
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