Meloni: 'Intervening in Hormuz would be a step towards involvement'

"What we can do now is to strengthen the Aspides mission, so let's talk about the Red Sea. On the Strait of Hormuz, it is clearly more challenging, because it would mean taking a step towards involvement. On the one hand, freedom of navigation is fundamental for us, which is also the subject of a statement that was made today with our partners. To intervene would objectively mean taking a step forward in involvement'. Thus Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, guest on Quarta Repubblica, broadcast on the evening of Monday 16 March on Rete4. 'We are working for de-escalation, that is, to make sure that the war can end and diplomacy can return,' she added.

And on the referendum on justice on 22 and 23 March, he clarified: 'I intend to get to the end of the legislature and be judged by the Italians on the totality of the work I have done so it would not make sense for me to resign even if the No vote wins. "But meanwhile today you don't vote on Meloni, you vote on justice. And if you vote No today to send Meloni home, you end up with Meloni remaining in place, and yet a justice system that continues not to work. It does not seem to me, let's say, a big deal,' said the Prime Minister. 'It is better to go and vote in the meantime to bring home a justice reform and improve the state of justice in Italia, regardless of who should go into government in a year's time'.

Italian military bases in the Gulf area, Meloni said, "are today obviously the first main problem I deal with, also because I have already done justice reform, in short, I cannot do more than talk about it. They are my main problem, clearly'. "Clearly there is an issue of monitoring, of attention to our military, which are many in the area, particularly as regards Erbil and Kuwait, even though,' he added, 'the military has been reduced and only those strictly necessary to carry out missions that, we must remember, are important, they are missions against terrorism, international missions. Because in my opinion our solidarity at this time and our presence is very important for the Gulf countries that are our strategic partners and because we have tens of thousands of Italians in that area

The premier also addressed the issue of the referendum on justice. "The Democratic Party that supported the separation of careers, what should it say? The 5 Star Movement that supported the draw for the members of the Csm, what should it say? Nicola Gratteri who supported the drawing of lots for the members of the Csm, what should he say? And so on and so forth." 'I don't know why they changed their minds,' he said. 'Then yes, the left certainly' because a right-wing government is proposing the reform, 'of Gratteri I can't say because I don't think Gratteri's argument is: "There is a right-wing government, I dislike him". Of course the left cannot say: 'It was a centre-right government that made the reform we all proposed because they were better than us'. So what should they say? Attack on the Constitution, fascism, illiberal drift, because it is the only argument left to mobilise their electorate on a reform that is absolute common sense. But can we continue like this in this nation? Can we continue that even when we agree that there is something that doesn't work and that it can be fixed if someone else proposes it we have to say no?"

"I want a reform that allows good magistrates who do their work to be able to advance their careers even if they are not included in the partisan mechanism of ideologised currents," Meloni continued. "This is exactly why I am making the reform, because in Italia we have thousands and thousands of judges who do their work very well and who have often been mortified because they did not have the right friendships. "It is also for this reason. In fact,' he added, 'it is not a reform made against magistrates, it is a reform made for all magistrates, which is a different thing. It is not a reform made against judges, but a reform made for all magistrates, because it is a reform that introduces meritocracy, responsibility and therefore also allows for more efficient justice. Because where there is accountability, where you answer even when you make mistakes, when you are negligent or when you don't do your job, when you are lax, you have an answer in terms of efficiency".