The centre-left drops Calenda, on trial for defamation

Without the broad field, or what remains of it, to defend it. And without the centre-right that would have had the numbers to oppose him and 'save him', but abstained at the last minute. Carlo Calenda will have to face - almost alone, for now - the Senate chamber that will decide whether the senator and leader of Azione will go to trial for aggravated defamation, after the lawsuit by Clemente Mastella. This is how the Palazzo Madama's Council for Immunities voted, giving authorisation to proceed against him. Avs' vote was missing due to the absence of Senator Ilaria Cucchi, the only member of her group in the Giunta.

In the crosshairs ended up a tweet by Calenda from which the former Minister of Justice felt offended as being associated with the Mafia. In April, during the European election campaign, Calenda criticised Emma Bonino's choice to make the 'United States of Europe' list together with Matteo Renzi and other moderates. 'It makes no sense to make a list that includes movements that will go to different European political groups,' he wrote on X addressing Bonino. 'It makes no sense to take Cuffaro, Cesaro and Mastella with you, even if by proxy. Mafia culture is the opposite of European values'.

This was too much for the former leader of the centrists and historic mayor of Benevento: Mastella sued him and Calenda found himself under investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office. He defends himself by saying that he was not referring to Mastella but to Cuffaro, the former Sicilian governor 'on whom there is a Supreme Court ruling'. In order to assess whether the tweet can be declared 'unquestionable' (like the opinions or votes of parliamentarians in the exercise of their functions, according to Article 68 of the Constitution), the prosecutor asked the judge for preliminary investigations for clarification. But the gip Costantino De Robbio referred the matter to Parliament. At lunchtime, the verdict of the Junta arrived. And it spies everyone, especially for the turn of the majority.

The measure's rapporteur, Ada Lopreiato of the M5s, asks to proceed against the 'syndicability' of Calenda's words. The Pd and the renzian Ivan Scalfarotto (the only representative of Italia viva) join in, while Fratelli d'Italia and Forza Italia 'dance' (according to Lopreiato, the Melonians 'first gave the OK to my report, then a step back and today more perplexities') and in the end, together with the League, abstain. Avs stands out: according to some, a strategic absence to confirm the left's guaranteeism and defend Calenda, who is part of the same group in the Senate. Calenda remains convinced that 'the accusation is without merit' and insinuates the doubt of 'a pretext for political reasons'. Lopreiato denies political influences and trusts that the junta's decision will not be overturned by the Chamber when the proceedings are calendared