Photographer: Genevieve ENGEL
Copyright: © European Union 2024 – Source : EP

By David Barry 

This year we will have the European elections and every 5 years there is always a discussion about the members of Parliament who are changing sides. in Italy, one of the parties affected by this phenomenon is the five-stars movement. it would be appropriate to find a way to finally block this unfair practice, if a parliamentarian doesn’t agree any more with a party he should resign because he’s no more representing the voters of that specific party. The EU should take concrete action in this regard to avoid dissatisfaction among voters, especially in Italy.

An emblematic case is the one of Massimo Castaldo former president of the European Parliament elected in the five-stars movement. After a long confrontation with the party leader Antonio Conte, Mr. Castaldo was “incorporated” into the Azione party of the centrist Carlo Calenda. This party represents exactly the contrary of what was the programme of the Five Stars movement. Calenda is known to be a strong Atlantic and NATO supporter, he was always against developing good relations with countries like Russia and China. He’s also against the “citizenship wage” which is a pillar in the five-stars movement programme.

In every speech he always underlines his distance from the Five Stars movement, he always tries to disrupt any Alliance among the Five Stars movement the democratic party and other centrist parties. He was since the beginning a huge opponent of the Five Stars movement and he is going on with this agenda. Some rumours forecasted that Castaldo was on his way to join Forza Italia because of his good relations with the party leader Antonio Tajani. Surprisingly he joined Azione one of the parties, as I explained before, completely opposite in terms of program and political agenda. Calenda strategically welcomed other politicians who changed sides but what is bizarre is that Castaldo in the past criticised harshly the leader of Azione. As well reported by the Italian daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano the former Vice-President of the European Parliament, moreover, has never spared social criticism (also rather harsh) of his new leader in recent years.

‘The MEPs of Lega, Forza Italia, Italia viva and Calenda have finally thrown down the mask. They are not interested in our young people working and being justly paid. In fact, they have just voted against an amendment that would have banned unpaid internships. WORTH IT!”, he wrote, for example, in February 2022. At the end of the year, when Action and Iv’s first agenda to change the statute of limitations had been approved, he attacked: ‘Now Renzi and Calenda have moved straight into the majority benches to deal yet another blow to Italian justice and dismantle the “Spazzacorrotti” ( an anti-corruption measure).

The truth is that they are not reforming justice, but making it impossible. Shame on them!’ When Action had then nominated Giuseppe Castiglione, leader of preferences on trial for corruption in Sicily, Castaldo had gone even harder: ‘Is this perhaps the great political renewal for Italy that is so vague? In order to grab a few more votes, Calenda’s ‘Third Pole’ had no qualms about nominating Mr. Castiglione!’ he was indignant. And he concluded with an appeal: ‘I humbly invite all Italians to reflect: let us choose well, let us choose responsibly, let us choose with our future and that of our children in mind!

’In a press note from the 5 stars movement sent out a sarcastic message to Castaldo: ‘Good luck also to Castaldo, who after endless and painful torments, has finally found a useful landing place for his immediate re-election bid in the next European elections: from now on he will have a home, a list that will allow him a third term of office, but also a fourth, a fifth,’ the note continued. Concluding with best wishes to the Castaldo and Federica Onori ‘for the battles they will fight from tomorrow onwards together with Calenda: for the cuts to the citizenship wage, for the sending of arms to Ukraine without an end, for the return of Prescrizione (prescription) in the trials, for the “gag” law and the many regulations on impunity’.