Ventotene Manifesto Sparks Controversy as Meloni Denounces Its Relevance
Rome: Premier Giorgia Meloni’s statement on Wednesday that the Manifesto of Ventotene did not represent the Europe she envisions during a Lower House debate ahead of this week’s EU Council sparked a protest by opposition members that led Speaker Lorenzo Fontana to temporarily interrupt the session.
According to Ansa News Agency, Meloni declared, “I don’t know if this is your Europe, but it’s certainly not mine,” referring to the 1941 manifesto, which was circulated within the Italian Resistance and soon became the programme of the European Federalist Movement. She further expressed uncertainty about the opposition’s vision of Europe, citing a pro-EU demonstration held in Rome on Saturday. The event, initiated by journalist Michele Serra, saw many participants, along with opposition members in the House, referencing the Manifesto. Meloni remarked, “I hope they haven’t read it, because the alternative would be scary.”
The small island of Ventotene, off the coast of Lazio, housed a Fascist prison during World War II, where two founding fathers of the European Union, Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, were imprisoned by the Mussolini dictatorship. It was here that the Ventotene Manifesto was conceived, advocating for a federation of European states to prevent future wars.
Members of the centre-left opposition protested Meloni’s comments, with some standing and shouting, prompting Speaker Fontana to interrupt the session again. Democratic Left MP Federico Fornaro criticized Meloni’s use of the Manifesto, calling it “a hymn to federal Europe against nationalisms that produced two wars,” and labeling its use in this context as “unacceptable.” Protesters also included Marco Grimaldi of the Green-Left Alliance (AVS) and Alfonso Colucci of the Five-Star Movement (M5S), who declared, “Shame, there is no space for Fascism anymore.”
As the session was set to resume in the afternoon, Speaker Fontana urged lawmakers to “maintain appropriate tones” and “honour the memory of those who put their lives on the line to ensure the principle of freedom of expression for everybody.”
Later on Wednesday, Meloni took to social media to post her address to the House, in which she discussed the Manifesto written by Spinelli and Rossi. She invited the public to “judge” for themselves. Her three-minute speech included quotes from the text, which was composed during the Fascist regime, asserting that “the European revolution in order to respond to our needs must be Socialist” and suggesting that “in revolutionary eras in which institutions don’t need to be administered but created, the democratic practice sensationally fails.”