Two articles indicating that Giorgia Meloni’s sister played a role in appointments to the heads of public companies have sparked a summer controversy in Rome.
Amid journalistic allegations lacking sources, hints of political maneuvers, judicial shadows, and conspiracy accusations, Rome’s power corridors are embroiled in a political-media crisis this summer, while the rest of the country remains stagnant in August’s lethargy. The exchanges continued on Monday, August 19, between the majority supporting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia, national conservative party) and opposition representatives, who, along with a part of the judiciary, are accused of engaging in an anti-democratic conspiracy targeting the government through the Prime Minister’s elder sister, Arianna Meloni. Very close to the Prime Minister, Arianna is also a senior official in her party.
Between the Meloni sisters, the question of the boundaries separating family relations and political ties has persisted since the far-right-dominated majority came to power. Arianna Meloni, the political secretary in charge of memberships in Fratelli d’Italia, is married to a key government figure – Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida – and is considered one of the few people trusted by the Prime Minister. The debate was reignited in mid-August by two unsourced articles attributing an undue political role to her in appointments that fall under the executive’s competence.
First, the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano reported – without sources or evidence – on a restricted meeting where Arianna Meloni allegedly influenced the retention of political allies within the Italian public broadcaster, RAI. Later, an article from La Repubblica insinuated that she might have had a say in the selection of a potential future CEO of Trenitalia, the passenger division of the state-owned railway group Ferrovie dello Stato, which has been at the center of a controversy related to exceptional delays recorded this summer on the peninsula’s rail lines.
It didn’t take much more for former Prime Minister, Senator, and leader of the centrist opposition party Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi, who is attempting to position himself within a potential alliance of opponents to the Meloni government, to seize on the issue. In a post on the social network X, Renzi, relying on the uncertain conclusions of these press articles, accused Fratelli d’Italia of being the party of “parentocracy.” IV parliamentarians also demanded clarifications on the two cases, provoking furious reactions from the majority. A senator from Fratelli d’Italia, Paola Mancini, thus called Renzi a “failed provincial godfather.”