Safe Roads: row in the Committee. The League says no to more Carabinieri: ‘Up to 10,000 more officers’

Following these statements, political differences within the ruling coalition regarding the ‘Safe Roads’ operation came to the fore during parliamentary proceedings. During the meeting of the Chamber of Deputies’ Defence Committee on Wednesday 23 September, the Lega rejected the rewording of its resolution (of which MP Eugenio Zoffili was the lead signatory), which was under consideration by the Committee, as suggested by the Government’s representative, the Under-Secretary of State for Defence Matteo Perego di Cremnago (Forza Italia).

The Under-Secretary emphasised that ‘any increase in the number of officers assigned to the operation should be accompanied by appropriate changes to make their work more effective’. Matteo Perego di Cremnago explained that he considered it ‘more appropriate to make greater use of the Carabinieri, given the greater consistency between their institutional remit and the aims of the ‘Safe Roads’ operation’. He expressed a favourable opinion on the preamble to the Zoffili resolution, provided that it were reworded. For his part, Zoffili pointed out that ‘he could not, at present, accept the proposed rewording, as he considered further examination of the matter necessary’. He emphasised that the recruitment of new Carabinieri is a process that ‘takes a long time and cannot address the current urgency, particularly with regard to security needs in the areas most at risk’.

In summary, the Lega is calling for the operation to be urgently scaled up and for the contingent to be increased to 10,000 troops. The allies, starting with the Defence Minister Guido Crosetto (FdI), are holding back. The minister has repeatedly expressed the hope of gradually returning the troops involved in the operation to purely military duties, such as training and the defence of the state, emphasising that the continued deployment of the Army in public order duties diverts valuable personnel away from specialist training.

For its part, Forza Italia is convinced that, ultimately, an assessment must be carried out of the deployment of the armed forces, seeking as far as possible to strike a balance between the need to ensure urban security and the requirements of the defence sector, starting with overseas missions.

 In response to the Government representative’s revised proposal on the ‘Safe Roads’ resolution – which was not accepted by Matteo Salvini’s party – Zoffili sent a clear message to his colleagues in the majority: ‘On “Strade Sicure”, we are pressing ahead with our plan. We cannot accept proposals that undermine the purpose of our initiative, which aims to redeploy more than 3,000 military personnel from barracks, putting them immediately on the streets to strengthen the safety of Italians and extend the operation to areas where it is not yet active. We do not understand,’ he added, ‘the position of our allies, who evidently have not yet grasped the urgency of a measure aimed at increasing the number of soldiers deployed in “Strade Sicure”, preferring other measures instead. We obviously agree with the recruitment of more Carabinieri, but this is not an immediate measure like the one the League has been insisting on since last November, when we tabled the resolution in the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. ‘We,’ concluded Zoffili, ‘are not prepared to back down in any way from our determination to immediately increase the number of officers on Italian streets to 10,000 – not to replace, but to support our law enforcement agencies, which must continue to carry out their duties.’ We will continue to press ahead with determination to secure the approval of our resolution as soon as possible. Time is running out and crime waits for no one,’ he concluded.