Premier Giorgia Meloni denies feeling
under siege from her political enemies and insists that she is
not blackmailable in the latest book by journalist Bruno Vespa,
out on Wednesday.
"I do not feel the dimension of siege at all. It is the story
that is told about me," Meloni, Italy's first female prime
minister and leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI)
party, tells Vespa in Il rancore e la speranza (The resentment
and the hope) published by Mondadori-Rai Libri.
"I am aware that there are enemies who are prepared to do
anything to bring me down. But they don't scare me," she
continues.
"As I said at the beginning of my term (in office), I am not
blackmailable. But I understand that for some power groups that
have controlled Italy for a long time this is a problem," she
adds.
"What amazes me is the total invention of quarrels with my
government allies. I have read quotations of mine in which I
insult Salvini that were not only never uttered, but not even
thought of," says Meloni of her deputy and transport minister
and leader of the right-wing League, a minor partner in her
right-centre government coalition.
"When I read press reviews with Matteo and Antonio Tajani, I am
astonished. I understand that some newspapers want to send us
home: this is legitimate, of course. What is not acceptable and
is alien to any professional ethics is putting things that were
never said or thought in inverted commas," she insists,
describing her enemies as "incurable misogynists".
"They try to accredit the thesis that a woman cannot withstand
pressure. Like those lawmakers who, until just a few decades
ago, believed that women couldn't be magistrates because when
they have their period they don't think straight".
In the book Meloni also rules out the possibility of a cabinet
reshuffle.
"I want to break another record: to finish the parliamentary
term with the same government I started with," she says.
"It would be the first time in the history of the Italian
Republic. (The late Silvio) Berlusconi was at Palazzo Chigi for
five years, but with two different governments. Realising a
vision takes time. And I am proud to have the time that is
needed," concludes Meloni.
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