Sangiuliano-Boccia: Why It’s Not Just Gossip (And Meloni Should Be Worried)

He repeated it on Tg1, which changed the schedule to include this interview, after he had already said it in a conversation with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and in an interview with Press: «I cannot be blackmailed». Minister Sangiuliano went on TV to reiterate to the director Gian Marco Chiocci, with the printed sheets of his bank movements (shown in passing), that no public money was used for the trips made by Maria Luisa Boccia, the consultant whose appointment the ministry did not ratify at the end of August at the center of the summer case: it was a romantic relationship (finally no longer an ambiguous “private matter”) and he paid for everything with his credit card. He did it to remove the suspicion of having committed the crime of embezzlement which was Giorgia Meloni’s first concern, to whom he publicly apologized. The minister also said that he had offered his resignation, but the Prime Minister had refused it. So to the question: are you thinking of resigning? Sangiuliano replied: “No, the Prime Minister asked me to continue.”

If the minister’s version, which so reassures Meloni and for which the public service acts as a megaphone in prime time, were true, the whole affair would be reduced to a mere bed affair, which in a post-Bunga Bunga Italy, not only does it no longer shock anyone, it almost makes people smile. Sangiuliano also said it: «All that could come out are some text messages that we exchanged, like everyone does», no confidential information, no classified documents, no compromising videos or audio, nothing at all. For Meloni, that’s fine, as she said, «the rest is gossip». But if the messages, videos, photos, that it seems have yet to come out were comments on other ministers, attacks on the government, criticisms on management, in short, confidences that are not amorous but have political content?

We certainly know that there is something more. Boccia from Instagram, from where in recent days he has denied the Ministry, which had initially denied both having offered the appointment and having paid for the consultant’s travel, wrote in the stories: «Two fundamental points: why was the appointment snatched? Why was reality distorted in his statements to the newspaper? I hope I don’t have to deny it again. A repeat liar would certainly not be welcome in Parliament». And in a subsequent story: «Let’s start telling lies!». What is Boccia telling us?

He is telling us that not only does he contest the reason given by the minister as to why the promised appointment was withdrawn (Sangiuliano cited a “conflict of interest” and that he and his staff decided it) – we don’t know why he says this, we are waiting for details – here we also find all the “Sgarbi-style” speculations on the audio with the female voice saying to interrupt any relationship, even a working one, with Boccia, him admitting that his wife had asked him to send her away, etc., that they shift the focus of the issue to a banal sentimental spite. Boccia is telling us above all that “a repeat liar would not be welcome in Parliament”. Does this remind you of anything?

Once upon a time, in a country far far away, the United States, a president was put under impeachment for lying to Americans. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky taught us vividly that the private is political. Of course, I know, let’s not get carried away: we had the Bunga Bunga and the theory of “watertight compartments”, “double standards”, put it however you want, has a long history. Propaganda explained to us that in Italy Berlusconi was a “great statesman” and what happened in his private rooms was, indeed, private. However, after Berlusconism, that is in Melonism – and this is the reason why Sangiuliano apologizes tearfully to his wife, and immediately after to Giorgia Meloni, the new post-Christian Democrat God – Even the private sector has started to count again. She explained it herself: «We are making History. We cannot make mistakes and missteps: we are under fire because we are changing Italy». Less than a year ago Meloni announced her breakup with her partner Andrea Giambruno, silencing the sexual scandal in which he had ended up, her sister Arianna had to explain her separation: «the political project goes forward, love is something else». On the one hand, she is silenced, on the other, she is using «gossip» as a victimist cover. We are waiting to understand whether Sangiuliano lied or was «always sincere» as, he said, Meloni advised him. And whether she will be consistent accordingly.