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By Ángel Amante
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s cramped parliament on Thursday subsidized a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the opposition expressing fears of a witch hunt against then-officials.
Italy, the first Western country to be severely hit by the coronavirus in early 2020, and the center-left government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte have received harsh complaints from the right-wing opposition over their handling of the emergency.
The chamber, now governed by right-wing forces that support the administration of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, approved with 172 votes in favor a bill instituting an investigation. It will require final approval through the Senate.
“This is a political firing squad, opposed to two other people in particular: Giuseppe Conte and former Health Minister Roberto Speranza,” Conte himself, now leader of the Five Star Movement, said in parliament.
After the effects were announced, coalition MPs shouted in unison “truth, truth”. Most of the parties in conflict refused to participate in the vote.
The World Health Organization has recorded more than 190,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Italy.
Italy is not the only country conducting a survey on the management of the pandemic. Also in Britain, an inquiry has been ordered to examine how COVID-19 was dealt with and what mistakes were made.
The charges against Conte and Speranza were dropped last month after prosecutors in the northern city of Bergamo, the epicenter of the Italian outbreak, investigated alleged initial mishandling of the crisis.
However, lawmakers felt there was a wide diversity of issues that needed additional scrutiny through parliament, adding why Italy had not updated its pandemic plan drawn up in 2006 and the legitimacy of the government’s strict lockdown measures.
Tommaso Foti, chairman of Meloni’s declining Brothers of Italy party, said the COVID factor is causing “doubt and pain” among Italians.
Conte and Speranza said the bill is intended to prevent the regional government’s involvement in the investigation, despite having significant powers in controlling health care in Italy. Right-wing parties are at the head of the highest regional administrations.
“They concluded that this is an insult to Italians, to the suffering of families,” Conte said.
(Reporting via Leslie Adler)
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