On to the next one, so after the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè joins the other two heads rolled by the decision of Giorgia Meloni, in the throes of fatal anger at the defeat of the yes vote in the referendum on the separation of careers, it is the turn of Maurizio Gasparri, also disheartened by a dozen senators from Forza Irtalia and above all by Marina Berlusconi, the party’s first shareholder. As is known, Prime Minister Meloni had already demanded and obtained the resignation of the Undersecretary of Justice Andrea Delmastro and of Giusi Bartolozzi, head of cabinet of the Minister Keeper of the Seals Carlo Nordio. However, there is something that does not add up on the level of political logic (and also on that of morality). If some responsibility for the defeat can be attributed to Bartolozzi by virtue of her improvident declarations on the need to “get rid of the judiciary because it is a firing squad”, it does not appear that neither Delmastro nor Santanché had particular faults regarding the management of the referendum, not even on a communication level. Delmastro was found to be the partner of the daughter of a mafiosi frontman in the management of a restaurant, a lighthearted act – given his justifications – which is very serious, by his own admission, given that he is an undersecretary of Justice (with responsibility for prisons!). As for Santanché, Pitonessa is involved in a series of legal proceedings for crimes ranging from false accounting to INPS fraud, up to bankruptcy. So far there is no sentence and as she says in her resignation letter to Meloni “my certificate is still immaculate”. Of course, it would be good practice for a minister to leave his seat when he is under investigation, something he has never dreamed of doing (despite having asked for the resignation of several political opponents when he was in opposition). The Minister of Tourism was protected by a long-standing political friendship with the President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa and was protected by the Constitution, which does not provide that a Prime Minister can disqualify his ministers. He represented in a certain way the productive classes of the North, who, on closer inspection, however, voted in the majority for yes, in contrast with the rest of Italy. His resignation was therefore “forceful”, after a long tug-of-war with the prime minister, who could not stand the sense of impunity demonstrated so many times (the government had already rejected three motions of no confidence in her). But as with Delmastro, the referendum has little to do with it. Let’s leave aside, as mentioned, Bartolozzi (who will have to deal with the Almasri case) but why didn’t Meloni demand the resignation of these two government representatives before the referendum? And what would have happened if yes had prevailed? Would he have done the same “clean sweep”? It is therefore undeniable that the three rolled heads are the sacrificial lambs of a defeat, it is not known whether to extinguish the anger of Meloni – owner of her party, through her sister Arianna – or an image operation to regain new momentum. The defeat in the referendum was also an opportunity to settle scores in the majority parties. Accounts that were already open. So much so that there is talk of a similar operation for Forza Italia, with Marina Berlusconi intending, through Tajani, to seize the opportunity to carry out a change of managers (Maurizio Gasparri is the first but he won’t be the last). Not having a crystal ball, we cannot know who will be next, but the impression is that this referendum has generated an upheaval in the majority parties that will not stop, in view of the political meeting in March 2027.
