House Grand Jury in chaos.
Having reached the final stages, with the final report on the Conte-Meloni dispute to be finalised, the parliamentary body chaired by Giorgio Mulè falls apart.
The opposition members, Stefano Vaccari (Pd) and Filiberto Zaratti (Avs), did not show up at the meeting called to take stock and resigned with a letter addressed to Mulè and the President of the Chamber Lorenzo Fontana.
Soon, the M5S leader Giuseppe Conte also intervenes and delivers a letter, again to Fontana, to ask that "since impartiality has been compromised" the Commission be dissolved.
The Jury, writes Vaccari, should "maintain an impartial profile"
.
And "instead - he observes - in the report submitted to us" by Mulè "motivations prevailed, albeit significant, of a political and interpretative nature which contrast with the reality of the ascertained facts and make clear the will of the majority to corroborate the accusatory version" of Meloni.
Also because, insists the PD deputy, "the Commission cannot fail to highlight how the behavior" of the prime minister "was contrary to the rigor and sense of responsibility, which must inspire the parliamentary debate even in the face of the most heated conflicts".
Furthermore, the device proposed by Mulè would have called into question "procedures of constitutional relevance, ignoring the role of Parliament in providing guidance towards the Government".
Hence his choice to postpone the mandate "to mark a strong opposition to the merits of the conclusions that the majority wanted to prevail, not corresponding to the institution's own criterion of impartiality".
Zaratti 's opinion is similar
: "The documentary reconstruction, the only one that counts, cannot be the subject of biased interpretations"
.
"If in the first part of the report - observes the Avs deputy - there is a clear reconstruction of the facts and documents, which unequivocally show the institutional and formal correctness of the parliamentary procedures adopted" by Conte, "in the second part reasons of political order, aimed at validating the accusatory theses supported" by Meloni.
"It is sad to note - underlines Zaratti - that the impartiality of the investigative commission has thus disappeared".
"Surprised and saddened" by Vaccari and Zaratti's decision, Mulè says
that, in a note, he explains how "never and on no occasion", since "the first session on 10 January and for the following 6, had Vaccari and Zaratti expressed any complaint, raised any protest, presented a complaint, regarding the organization and progress of the work".
"On the contrary - he continues - they had always demonstrated a collaborative and institutional spirit in carrying out the task".
"I don't know what happened with nightfall - he continues - it will be Vaccari and Zaratti who will explain it if they intend to do so".
But Mulè also expresses "bitterness" at having learned of the resignation "from the press agencies" while "the Commission session was underway".
For now, he explains, he does not "comment" on the gesture, because the Jury's work continues.
Even the other members of the majority: Alessandro Colucci (Nm) and Fabrizio Cecchetti (Lega) say they are "surprised" by a "decision" that was "taken precisely at the conclusion of the work, without any signal that could anticipate its intentions and after a widely shared path".
Meanwhile, Conte writes to Fontana to ask him to dissolve the Grand Jury
.
The prerequisites of impartiality and the possibility of arriving at an impartial reconstruction free from instrumental interpretations of a purely political nature would have been missing".
Therefore it is better that the Commission, which he himself requested to defend himself from the accusations made against him in the Chamber by Meloni on the ESM, be dissolved.
In reality the members of the Jury could not resign and precedents are rare.
The first occurred in the first legislature, 20 October 1950, when 3 deputies resigned to protest against "the majority's refusal to include the minority's opinion in the final report".
Conte to Fontana: 'Once impartiality has been compromised, dissolve the jury'
The M5S leader Giuseppe Conte delivered a letter to the President of the Chamber Lorenzo Fontana (and for information to the President of the Jury, Giorgio Mulé) in which he requests the immediate 'dissolution of the Commission'.
The decision was taken after learning from news agencies of the resignations of deputies Filiberto Zaratti and Stefano Vaccari, members of the Commission.
On the basis of what was reconstructed, Conte learned "with grave dismay that the prerequisites of impartiality and the possibility of arriving at an impartial reconstruction free from instrumental interpretations of a purely political nature have disappeared"
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