Meloni in Vercelli: electoral law, Made in Italy and response to the AfD

She doesn't want to talk about Roberto Vannacci, and to those who correlate the general's rise with the AfD's exploits in Saxony-Anhalt Giorgia Meloni replies that the parallels are out of place. He is more willing to talk about electoral law and preferences, claiming to have "restored" to Italians "the possibility of choosing a parliamentarian", and branding the center-left as "not very credible". These are the most political passages of the prime minister's two hours in Vercelli for the inauguration of Risò, the international rice festival, followed by the blitz in the Novara area to visit two manufacturing plants and reiterate "the attention towards the production system and the commitment to promoting Made in Italy".

The audience is friendly. In the front row, the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida (asking for a minute of silence for Emma Bonino and Raffaele Costa), his Piedmontese colleagues Paolo Zangrillo and Gilberto Pichetto and FdI parliamentarians. There are children waving the tricolor and older kids with National Youth flags. Meloni enters from the back of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea and receives a long round of applause as he emerges from the door onto the churchyard where the stage is set up. Listen to the institutional speeches, with the mayor of the "European rice capital" Roberto Scheda, the president of the Province Davide Gilardino and the president of Piedmont Alberto Cirio praising the government's action on agriculture. Before the general director of FAO Qu Dongyu and his deputy Maurizio Martina (Rome's candidate for the top position of the UN agency), their appeals against unfair competition from South East Asian producers were accepted. "Enough free trade agreements with countries that don't respect the standards", agrees Meloni, relaunching the fight against Italian sounding, "a theft". There also comes recognition for weeders and the conquest of rights "pillars of work: Bonino would agree with this".

The epilogue is a huge crowd, with the prime minister among the stands surrounded by visitors asking her for selfies. To the journalist who manages to ask her about the AfD's exploits and the different opinions of Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, Meloni says that it is a "normal debate" and advises against "overlapping and simplifications". In Germany, he notes, the "Grosse Koalition government, with centre-right and centre-left parties", has "difficulty in giving a clear line on matters important to citizens" and this also produces "the growth of this type of movement". His, however, is a "right-wing executive that gives answers, even on the issue of immigration on which the AfD has established itself".

In a press point, however, the FdI leader gives her reading of the tug-of-war of 24 hours earlier over preferences: "Italians will be able to choose coalition, prime minister, program and parliamentarian in the next elections. I am proud that the centre-right has done it". It is "hardly credible that" the left "says that it is not enough: the preferences have been missing for over 30 years and no more than a month ago they were celebrating with champagne for having scuttled the amendment that introduced them".

The Prime Minister then confirms that an intervention against the high cost of fuel is arriving "during the next week at the latest", "more targeted towards consumers and users who are most in need". A measure that he wants to be "easy, immediate, that does not create confusion" and this requires "a few more days". Meanwhile, news arrives from Milan that the judges have confirmed the blockade of the hot area of ​​the former Ilva. "These are decisions that do not depend on us", observes Meloni, announcing that the table at Palazzo Chigi will be "reconvened immediately: it is one of the files on which we are spending the greatest number of hours". On the future of MPS, he clarifies, "now the government has no role: it is a market question". But if he looks at the past, he points out that the bank "before it was a problem while today it is a jewel".