Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said
on Monday that his remarks on the judiciary in an interview on
Sunday had not been an attack but rather an expression of
concern.
"An answer (to a question, ed.) at the end of an interview about
something else. An answer in which I recount something that had
been reported to me. A concern, not an attack," said Crosetto on
X, formerly Twitter, referring to the assertion that "the only
major danger (facing Premier Giorgia Meloni's government, ed.)
is from those who have always felt they are an antagonistic
faction and have always undermined centre-right governments -
judicial opposition".
"I say I want to report to Parliament. I am attacked, insulted,
threatened, offended. Preemptively. Should I be afraid? I am
not," added Crosetto.
In the interview published by Corriere della Sera on Sunday the
defence minister is reported as saying he had "heard about
meetings of a faction within the judiciary in which they talk
about how to 'stop the anti-democratic drift Meloni is leading
us to'".
"Since we have seen all sorts of things in the past, if I know
this country, I expect this season to open soon, before the
European Elections," he continued.
Crosetto's interview sparked an angry reaction from Italian
magistrates union ANM and opposition leaders, with ex-premier
and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Giuseppe Conte saying his words
amounted to accusing part of the judiciary of being
'subversive'.
Later on Sunday the minister said he was "astonished" by the
reaction to the interview.
"First of all, because I have done everything but threaten or
delegitimize anyone," he said, while at the same time giving
examples of past cases of miscarriages of justice and saying it
was not possible to "hide how a part, certainly not all, of the
judiciary has behaved in Italian history".
"'I only intend to defend the institutions by seeking the
truth," he concluded.
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