Italia Viva (IV) leader and senator Matteo Renzi criticised Premier Giorgia Meloni in the Upper House on Wednesday. He called her a “butter man” who was “strong with the weak and weak with the strong” after Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi reported on Libyan official Osama Almasri’s release and flight home.
“With Meloni, you thought you had found the iron lady, but you actually found butter man, strong with the weak and weak with the strong,” said Renzi. The centre-left opposition has repeatedly urged Meloni to report to Parliament on the case.
“If the coward premier had had any courage, she would have come here and said that there is a national interest of this country, and it’s called ENI,” he added, referring to the energy giant’s major projects in Libya.
“If Meloni wanted to defend national interest, she would have said it. But she doesn’t do it, she releases the torturer of children,” said Renzi. Almasri is wanted for allegedly murdering migrants and raping children as young as five.
Renzi also said, “The book to read is not The Lord of the Rings anymore, but Pinocchio.” He compared himself to Jiminy Cricket, Nordio and Piantedosi to the Cat and the Fox, and Meloni to a failure as the Fairy, before calling her “butter man.”
“Today, Giorgia Meloni lost her reputation, honour and dignity. She can’t talk about immigration and security anymore,” he said.
Over the weekend, Meloni’s sister Arianna addressed a rally of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party. She referenced the party’s Tolkien-inspired ideology, saying, “Giorgia is our Frodo, and we are the Fellowship of the Ring.” Many FdI members attended Hobbit Camps as children.
Schlein calls Meloni a rabbit (coward)
Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein also attacked Meloni’s failure to report to Parliament. She called the premier “president of the rabbit” (presidente del coniglio), playing on the Italian term for prime minister, “president of the cabinet” (presidente del consiglio). In Italian, “rabbit” suggests cowardice.
“This is a sad day for democracy,” said Schlein. “Nordio and Piantedosi came to the House to cover the Prime Minister’s back. But today, Giorgia Meloni should have been in this chamber. She lacks respect for the Chamber and the country.
“The truth is that you are ashamed of what you do, so you lie. Giorgia Meloni should have been here. Instead, you just attack the magistrates.”
At the end of her speech, PD lawmakers displayed banners with rabbits, asking, “Where are you, Meloni?” and calling her a “patriot on the run.”
Schlein also criticised Nordio’s remarks, arguing that Almasri’s release was a political decision, not a technical one.
“You did not speak as a minister but as a defence lawyer for a torturer,” she said. “Why didn’t Nordio, who was informed on the day of the arrest, respond to the attorney general’s requests to intervene?
“Your inaction resulted in his release. First, he tells us that Almasri was freed because he didn’t have time to translate some pages from English. Then he said he read them but found faults.
“So he admitted that it was a political choice.”
