At the end of the day, to break the embarrassed silence of Article One, Arturo Scotto arrives, clear: «Qatar is a country where human rights are not respected. Even before the judiciary – the party coordinator tells La Stampa – the point is political. We are with the workers, not with the billionaire emirs.” The arrest of Antonio Panzeri, the former MEP of Pd and Article 1 accused of corruption, money laundering and criminal association, shakes Roberto Speranza’s party.
The secretary is silent, as are Pier Luigi Bersani and Sergio Cofferati. Even in the Democratic Party there is little desire to comment. Andrea Orlando blurts out on Twitter: «Let’s be honest, guarantees aside, if even half of the Qatar-European Parliament affair were true, we’d already be absolutely disgusted. Exchanging the fundamental rights of workers for money and gifts from the feudal lords of Qatar is a total betrayal of democratic values.”
Yet Panzeri, says a former colleague of his in the European Parliament, was a powerful man: «Among the 10-15 deputies who really counted. He had very strong ties with Africa, he was more there than in Brussels. Especially the Maghreb: in Morocco and Tunisia he was at home. The walls of his office were filled with photos of kings and princes.’
Meanwhile, Article One suspends it. In a note, the party expresses its “bewilderment at what is emerging” in “a story that is completely incompatible with its history and its political commitment”. Scotto recalls that the former MEP “hasn’t held operational roles for some time” and suspending him is “a decision to protect our political organization”. Then, he underlines: «We live with the money of the members, with the contribution of 2 per thousand and with the payments of the elected officials at all levels. This is our guarantee of freedom from any conditioning». The centre-right, obviously, sinks the blow: the League asks the European Parliament for a commission of inquiry and Susanna Ceccardi speaks of “shameful hypocrisy of the left”.
As it happens, Panzeri’s arrest coincides with the work that Massimo D’Alema is currently carrying out as a private consultant. The former premier would be the link between the Italian government and a group of Qatari investors ready to take over the Russian Lukoil refinery in Priolo. A temporal coincidence that pushes Giuseppe Provenzano, deputy secretary of the Democratic Party, to a bitter criticism: «Speaking of Qatar, a side note. It has nothing to do with the horrible affair of the European Parliament to say the least, but seeing former leaders of the left act as lobbyists in big international affairs is not only sad, it says a lot about why people don’t trust them, they don’t believe in them anymore».
Those who shared the years in Brussels with Panzeri speak of him behind anonymity as “a powerful parliamentarian, not an inexperienced one”. Never over the top: “An exaggerated miser, he didn’t waste money, neither on clothes nor on clubs”. A friend of Gianni Pittella and Andrea Cozzolino remember him. They tell of a relationship with Massimo D’Alema that has weakened a lot over the years «and then Antonio doesn’t need a jacket to go around, he has his one. He’s not a “Dalemian”, he’s always been a “Panzerian” ».