Senators Clash Over Ventotene Manifesto

Rome: Members of the centre-right ruling coalition and the centre-left opposition clashed in the Senate on Thursday, a day after Premier Giorgia Meloni’s statement that the Manifesto of Ventotene did not represent the Europe she envisions sparked a political controversy.

According to Ansa News Agency, Senator Raffaella Paita of the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party, part of the opposition, was the first to speak at the session. She criticized the premier’s remarks in the Lower House, describing the questioning of the 1941 manifesto, which was distributed within the Italian Resistance and became the European Federalist Movement’s programme, as inappropriate. Paita expressed concern over the implications of Meloni’s statements on democracy and Europe, drawing protests from rightist Senators.

Senators Tino Magni from the Green-Left Alliance (AVS) and Sario Parrini from the Democratic Left, the largest opposition party, joined in criticizing Meloni’s statement, which had already prompted an interruption in Wednesday’s Lower House debate by Speaker Lorenzo Fontana. Meloni had expressed her disapproval of the Manifesto, questioning whether it represented the Europe envisioned by others and suggesting that an understanding of it might be alarming.

The island of Ventotene, off Lazio’s coast, served as a Fascist prison during World War II and was where three founding fathers of the European Union, Spinelli, Rossi, and Colorni, conceived the Ventotene Manifesto. This document advocated for a federation of European states to avert future conflicts.

Meloni later shared her address to the House on social media, inviting public judgment. Her speech included quotes from the 1941 text, highlighting its call for a Socialist European revolution and questioning the effectiveness of democratic practices during revolutionary periods.