Conte clashes with Meloni after COVID inquiry testimony, faces recall in September

Conte's testimony and the anonymous letter

Giuseppe Conte, former prime minister and current M5S leader, testified before the parliamentary COVID inquiry commission on Thursday, 6 August. During the hours-long hearing, he produced from his jacket pocket an anonymous letter concerning mask procurement by JC Electronics, a company owned by Dario Bianchi, who is close to Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia party. Conte said he had delivered the document to the Rome prosecutor's office, claiming it would prove irregularities. The company responded that the document had already been examined in civil proceedings and announced a defamation lawsuit. The document, seen by La Stampa, is a report from the commissioner's legal and logistics team dated 14 April 2022, stating that masks declared as imported from China did not match those found in a Pomezia warehouse, with filtration capacity below 89.75%.

The mask procurement dispute

JC Electronics had obtained a civil protection contract for 10 million masks at over €2 each. The supply was blocked after being deemed non-compliant with pandemic standards, and three laboratory assessments judged the masks unsuitable and dangerous. A civil lawsuit followed, with the first-instance court awarding the company €200 million in damages. The government then chose to settle, paying €100 million to close the dispute. Conte argued in commission that there were grounds to continue the civil case through appeal rather than settle, and called for further investigation into the transaction.

Social media clash between Conte and Meloni

The hearing triggered a public exchange between Conte and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Meloni posted on social media on the evening of 6 August, stating the commission was not an "execution squad" but answered Italians' right to know the truth about pandemic management. The following morning, Conte responded, asking whether Meloni had five minutes to answer about the Delmastro chats, when Daniela Santanchè would go to court, and whether the centre-right would stop shielding its regions on COVID management. By the evening of 7 August, Meloni's post had gathered nearly 64,000 likes and Conte's around 30,000, with over 35,000 comments.

Opposition rallies, FdI pushes forward

Opposition parties signed a joint note defending Conte, saying he had restored dignity to politics and that the majority was using the commission for propaganda. The note was signed by group leaders of PD, M5S, AVS, and IV on the COVID commission. PD Senate group leader Francesco Boccia praised the hearings as a watershed moment that had dismantled two years of right-wing propaganda. Carlo Calenda struck a solitary position.

“The Commission is an unworthy attempt at revenge, but Conte confirms himself a poor populist without courage.”

Fratelli d'Italia's Francesco Filini, a commission member, announced that Conte would be recalled starting in September and that former Health Minister Roberto Speranza would also be summoned. Filini cited unresolved questions, including testimony from a businessman who claimed to have paid €454,000 to a former Conte associate for a preliminary consultancy. Alice Buonguerrieri of FdI called on Conte to waive his parliamentary immunity after JC Electronics announced its lawsuit. A second hearing was scheduled for 14 September.

Conte's personal reflection

Speaking at the Dialoghi in corte event in Sabaudia on 7 August, Conte recalled the hardest moments of the pandemic in 2020.

“I thought: here if I get infected, I die too. And we don't have in our system a substitute for the prime minister, so it would have been an institutional problem at that moment.”