Meloni appoints a deputy who was seen with a Nazi swastika to the government of Italy

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Newly elected Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni appointed this Monday (31) as undersecretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure, deputy Galeazzo Bignami, who in 2016 appeared wearing an armband with the swastika, a Nazi symbol, in a photo.

The episode heated up the debate over the Meloni government’s compliance with totalitarian ideologies. The new prime minister, after all, leads the Brothers of Italy, a party with origins in the fascism of Benito Mussolini – the legend’s flag bears the design of a flame in three colors, symbology associated with the movement, for example.

Bignami, 47, a supporter of Meloni’s, was re-elected to Parliament in September. In a statement after being nominated, he said he was “deeply ashamed” of the images of the past and said he condemned “any form of totalitarianism”, calling Nazism “absolute evil”.

Meloni did not comment on the 2016 photo of his new undersecretary. But last week, he also gave a speech trying to shake off any similar ideology. “I have never felt any sympathy or proximity to anti-democratic regimes,” he told parliament.

“I have always considered the anti-Semitic laws of 1938 to be the lowest point in Italian history, a shame that will haunt our people forever,” the prime minister continued in her first speech.

Bignami will be undersecretary of the portfolio that is commanded by Matteo Piantedosi and has as deputy Matteo Salvini, leader of the League and one of the main faces of the Italian right.

The photo wearing the swastika is from 2005, when the now undersecretary was at his bachelor party. His appointment was criticized by Italy’s largest anti-fascist association, the National Association of Italian Partisans, and also by several opposition politicians.

On a social network, deputy Marco Furfaro, from the Democratic Party, shared the photo and wrote in a message: “An offense, an indecency with the Italian Constitution, memory, history and the victims of the swastika”.

Meloni also named undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor Claudio Durigon, of the League, a politician who last year resigned from a post in the Ministry of Economy after suggesting that the name of Benito Mussolini’s brother – Arnaldo – to a public square.

Another controversial name is Isabella Rauti, appointed undersecretary of Defense. She is the daughter of Pino Rauti, who was an employee of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a party founded in 1946 by Mussolini supporters.

At the head of the Italian Senate is also a sympathizer of fascism. Ignazio La Russa, elected with 116 votes out of 200, co-founded Meloni’s Brothers of Italy. His connection with Mussolini also runs in the family: his father was the dictator’s party secretary.

La Russa —whose middle name is Benito—began his political career in the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement. In a 2018 video, he shows reporters busts, photos, medals and mini-statues of Mussolini that he keeps at home.

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