Salvini will not return to Catania alone

That hand on the shoulder accompanied by a “Dear, Matthew …” had separated their destinies. Giuseppe Conte on August 20, 2019, had left Salvini irresponsible for having opened a government crisis only for “personal and partisan interests.” Now more than a year has passed but this scene is always there, in the mind of the leader of the Northern League, who is looking for revenge. And this morning he proves it in the court of Catania, where the first hearing of the Gregoretti case was held, the ship set sail at sea with 131 migrants on board when he was Minister of the Interior. The hearing is postponed to November 20 and December 4 when several members of the last two governments headed by Giuseppe Conte, including the prime minister, will have to go to court to be heard as witnesses to the events, since the defense He has repeatedly explained that Salvini did not act alone and that even today ships remain at sea for days waiting for a safe harbor to be assigned.

At the end, the first round ends in favor of the former Interior Minister who goes up and turns, after a sensational injury in the field: the lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, entered the field on her legs, leaves in a wheelchair from a marble slab that detaches from the wall and cuts off his foot. Reason why Salvini denounces Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede for lack of live control: “Where are you? One trial will be closed and another will be opened, “she warns with a blue suit and tie, a pin with Alberto da Giussano on the order, and striped socks, which she wears on elegant occasions (she also wore them when she was sworn.

The premise is this. Salvini arrives in Sicily with all the center-right, parliamentarians, leaders, Giorgia Meloni and Antonio Tajani. The closed-door hearing lasts four hours, but the leader of the Northern League transforms this brief parenthesis into three days of meetings and debates with banners, even if it is a party. The expectations were very high, we imagined a river session and instead everything was resolved with a postponement. But it is a long delay. Salvini leaves “satisfied” because he knows that the next time he will not return to the Catania court. With him will be the Prime Minister, who, however, is not upset but ready to report all the circumstances.

There will also be part of the former government – Luigi Di Maio, Danilo Toninelli, Elisabetta Trenta – but also the current Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese. That her former colleagues in the government are the same ones who voted or made the senators vote for authorization to proceed against her, sending her to trial.

Certainly, today as then, the record is thorny for the government. Even in recent cases, observes a majority source that deals with the issue, the ships that rescued the migrants have remained at sea, “but always with attention to the health and safety of those on board and for the time necessary to carry out the necessary procedures for the disembarkation, without ever reaching the limit of home “, according to Gregoretti. In September, it happened to the Open Arms, which had been waiting for days before the refugees were transferred to a ship to quarantine them. left, more than one continued to protest each missed landing.

And here, “Italian justice works,” says Salvini as he leaves the court. Her lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, explains that she had requested the testimony of Luciana Lamorgese, denying the call for correction from former government colleagues. “They are all innocent like me,” says the secretary of the Northern League, hoping that the prime minister will not spend more than half an hour in the bunker hall of the Bicocca prison where he will be heard, also because he must be able to deal “24 hours with the Italian problems “. But the Northern League and its lawyer do not hide their satisfaction: the list of ministers made by the GUP seems to say that Salvini did not act alone. “I will return to Catania but I will not return alone”, Salvini emphasizes.

Politically Salvini reflects the proximity of the center-right allies. At the Baiaverde hotel there is that breakfast with Giorgia Meloni and Antonio Tajani that was scheduled in Piazza Duomo, but is skipped for security reasons. The leaders of the Brothers of Italy and Forza Italia – not a foregone conclusion – want to meet with him before the hearing to give him their support. The first round of the Gregoretti event is won by Matteo Salvini.