All the senators of the Democratic Party in the Senate Foreign Commission have resigned: the dem have handed over their mandate to the president of the group Simona Malpezzi. The reason is the stalemate that has been created for weeks over the removal of president Vito Petrocelli, of the Five Star Movement, and at the center of a political controversy due to his pro-Persian positions.
Alessandro Alfieri, from Lombardy, who was also one of the secretaries of the commission, explained the reasons for the gesture in a post on Facebook: “Senator Petrocelli cannot be allowed to promote a parallel diplomacy in complete disagreement and in the absence of consultation with the others. commissioners ». And he added: «For many days we have expressed our willingness to think about all the possible ways to resolve an embarrassing question that is seriously undermining the credibility of our institutions. With the letter signed last week, the members of the foreign commission wanted to say very clearly that the situation is unsustainable ». “In this sense – concluded the dem – as members of the Pd of the Commission we have already handed our resignation into the hands of the president of the group, Simona Malpezzi. We are ready to move in coordination with all the other groups in order to resolve this no longer tolerable situation in a very short time ».
The risk of resignation could then also involve the other senators of the commission in open dissent with Petrocelli, who is its president. A procedure such as that of the dem was in fact also initiated by the senators of the Lega (including Matteo Salvini himself), Forza Italia and Italia Viva. And in the morning it was Petrocelli himself who reiterated his position via social media: “I’m not resigning because I feel I represent the Constitution and the will of the Italians.” A position strengthened by colleague 5Stelle group leader Mariolina Castellone who reiterated: “I will not force it, Casellati will decide” on the fate of Petrocelli.
At the moment, however, there seems to be only one solution: that all the senators leave the commission. Ansa reports that two letters have arrived on President Casellati’s table in recent days with the aim of getting out of the swamp, one from the members of the Foreign Affairs Commission and the other from the President of the European Affairs Commission. In the afternoon, then, a third way was identified: that of the resignation en bloc of the whole commission. Because once the resignations of all the senators of the commission have been formalized, the presidents of the groups will have to declare their intention not to replace them with party colleagues. At this point, President Casellati and the Council for the regulation, would trigger the dissolution of the commission itself due to the impossibility of being able to continue to carry out its duties, in such a delicate moment determined by the war in Ukraine. Immediately afterwards, the reorganization will proceed with the appointment of a new president.