A controversy erupted over the weekend after an investigation by Repubblica and Domani revealed that a foundation linked to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party had donated €30,000 to buy a property symbolic of neo-fascism.

The Alleanza Nazionale Foundation, closely linked to Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party, has contributed to the purchase of the former headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI).

After the Second World War, MSI attracted fascist sympathisers and years after it was dissolved, the majority of its supporters joined Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia.

The €30,000 donation was made to the Acca Larenzia Association, which honours former terrorists and neo-fascists, to help purchase the property of the same name.

Every year on 7 January, far-right sympathisers gather there to commemorate the murder of three neo-fascist militants with fascist salutes. Videos of last year’s rally went viral around the world.

The Alleanza Nazionale Foundation includes several prominent members of the Fratelli d’Italia, with key figures such as Arianna Meloni and Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies Fabio Rampelli on its board of directors.

The newspapers behind the investigation asked for an explanation from Meloni’s party, describing Alleanza Nazionale as “the true financial safe of Fratelli d’Italia”. The foundation, however, denied any financial links between the two.

“The Alleanza Nazionale Foundation is much older than Fratelli d’Italia… There is no financial relationship,” wrote the Foundation’s president, Giuseppe Valentino, who added: “Arianna Meloni has no executive position in the Foundation.

Opposition parties have taken up the issue, once again criticising Meloni’s party for its links with the far right, which were previously exposed by Fanpage‘s investigation into Gioventù Nazionale.

Sandro Ruotolo, MEP of the Democratic Party (S&D), argued that Meloni’s project of a conservative party was “not credible” because “the links between the leader of Fratelli d’Italia and the far-right groups linked to the fascist era remain. We are still waiting for the prime minister to break with the dark past, to declare herself anti-fascist and to ban organisations that invoke fascism.”

“It’s clear that Prime Minister Meloni has no intention of severing ties with the neo-fascist far right, even to the point of financing it,” said Angelo Bonelli, spokesperson for Europa Verde and MP for the Greens and Left Alliance.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it)

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