“Red fascism”, “rainbow censorship” and discriminated right-wing journalists: this is the imaginary Italy that the Melonians are telling the European Parliament. While we are falling to 35th place in the Rainbow Map, Nordio and Piantedosi are deserting the EU Rule of Law Commission and sending their officials, who have stammered about freedom of the press and rights
The world of Giorgia Meloni is on stage at the European Parliament . A plastic representation of the Italy that does not exist. Where “red fascism silences journalists”, “right-wing female journalists do not find space because they are considered not very objective”, “the LGBT movement institutionalizes censorship and promises prison for those who dare to express different ideas”.
Protagonists in the Anna Politkovskaya Hall in Brussels were Nicola Procaccini, co-president of the ECR group; Alessandro Ciriani, MEP of Fratelli d’Italia; Tommaso Cerno, director of the newspaper Il Tempo; Manuela Biancospino, one of the founders of the Italian Journalists Association and, connected remotely, Jacopo Coghe of the anti-abortion association Pro Vita & Famiglia . Theme: “Freedom of the press”.
The counter-conference
A conference born to act as a counterpoint to the closed-door hearing called by the Libe Commission (Civil Liberties, Justice and Internal Affairs) on the issue of the rule of law and freedom of the press in Italy. Called to order in Brussels by the EU were the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi and his counterpart for Justice, Carlo Nordio , who preferred to forfeit and send their own officials: Alessandra Giansante for Nordio and Isabella Confortini for Piantedosi.
“They are running away because they are running out of arguments, given the guilty persecution of the Meloni government against judges, journalists and rainbow families,” commented Gaetano Pedullà, MEP of the 5 Star Movement.
Melonian Procaccini defended them: «Ministers from nations involved in the monitoring commission have never appeared». A fake news, blatantly denied by Belgian MEP Sophie Wilmès who chaired the hearing, who first listed prime ministers who spoke at these hearings on the rule of law and then added: «Clearly the Italian ministers want to boycott this hearing».
“A very bad figure,” added an MEP. Indeed, a somewhat bad figure for Italy with officials stammering in front of questions from various members of the Commission on the ban on publishing the ordinances, possible sanctions for those who spread them and the silence on the far-right meeting in Milan organized by a neo-Nazi group .
The hearings
Thus, in room 6B54, the hearing on the rule of law in Italy scheduled for 2 pm went ahead with the MEPs paying attention to the words of those being heard: Francesco Cancellato, director of Fanpage, recounted his experience as a victim of spyware in the Paragon case , still awaiting an answer from Copasir on who authorised the spyware.
Sigfrido Ranucci recalled the difficulties after the complaints received from members of the majority. And, at the specific question of one of the MEPs, he spoke of Rai ‘s intention to cut resources to Report. Among those heard were also Citizen Lab, the Canadian laboratory that investigated the operations of the spyware Paragon and the association Libera.
On the rights front, Alessia Crocini, president of Famiglie Arcobaleno, recalled the Piantedosi circular that blocks the transcription of children of same-sex couples and the Varchi bill that criminalises surrogacy.
Roberta Parigiani, spokesperson for the MIT (Trans Identity Movement), denounced the strong backsliding in Italy on the rights of trans people under the current government, accusing ministers and institutions of denying trans identity, hindering gender affirmation processes and promoting discriminatory policies, in contrast with European evolution.
«hostile single thought»
A photograph of Italy that is reversed at 4:30 p.m., with the press conference of Fratelli d’Italia. “In Europe the commissions have decided what verdict they must give. It is the hostile single thought”, attacked the MEP Alessandro Ciriani. “Europe fears us Italian journalists”, Biancospino added. “I don’t understand why a journalist who works for a right-wing newspaper is right-wing while if she is left-wing she is objective. Are we unreliable because we are women?”
And while ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map 2025 certifies Italy’s decline to 35th place out of 49 countries for the protection of LGBT rights, Jacopo Coghe, spokesperson for Pro Vita & Famiglia, connected remotely and, in announcing censorship, violence and threats against Pro Vita, announced “the sending of a letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, to ask whether there are first-class citizens and second-class citizens within the Union”.
“This is an attempt to influence the new document on the rule of law that will be released in July,” concluded Procaccini, still smarting from his inability to include names close to the government in the list of those to be heard by the Commission, infuriating the Prime Minister.
“A censorship” he says. In reality, as already reported by Domani, the names were not accepted due to lack of relevance and a procedural error by Procaccini, who acted too late. On the sidelines, the comment of the day is signed by the pentastellato Pedullà: “The European Union censors fake news, while it is Fratelli d’Italia that is a living fake news”.
