The No vote in the referendum has caused a stir. Just hours after the result , Undersecretary of Justice Andrea Delmastro, one of Giorgia Meloni's closest collaborators, resigned : "I submitted my irrevocable resignation as Undersecretary of Justice today," he announced in a statement. " I have always fought crime, achieving concrete and significant results. Although I have done nothing wrong, I committed a negligent act that I corrected as soon as I became aware of it. I take responsibility for this, in the nation's interest, even more so out of the affection and respect I have for the government and the Prime Minister."
The head of the Justice Ministry's cabinet, Giusi Bartolozzi, also stepped back after her meeting with Minister Carlo Nordio at the offices on Via Arenula.
Delmastro had been at the center of the "Bisteccheria d'Italia" case for days , where he was a partner with the eighteen-year-old daughter of Mauro Caroccia, who was sentenced to four years in prison for fictitious ownership of assets belonging to the clan led by Michele Senese, nicknamed 'o pazzo. ' Bartolozzi, meanwhile, had made headlines for saying during an interview on Sicilian TV station Telecolor: "If the 'yes' vote wins, we'll get rid of the magistrates. They're a firing squad."
But Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè is also said to be in the balance : these are hectic hours, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reportedly carefully evaluating the situations of all government members with pending legal cases. Sources close to the minister assure her that there are no problems, but rumors of a completely different nature are circulating within the majority. On trial in Milan for alleged false accounting at Visibilia and under investigation for alleged bankruptcy, the FdI representative had already been under fire at the beginning of 2025.
Nordio had tried to defend his collaborators until the very end. Bartolozzi's position was not in question, he told Sky Tg24 this morning . "Regarding the observations made by both members of my ministry and others in our coalition, I believe that by balancing the over-the-top observations made by ours and theirs, the algebraic situation is equivalent . So I don't think this excessive controversy, which I have always tried to stay away from, has had much of an impact."
As for Delmastro: "I'm sure he'll be able to clarify things. If you're having dinner at a restaurant, you can't ask for the owner's ID. I shook hands a lot during this referendum campaign; I wouldn't want it to happen one day where I'm hugging a mafioso. As for the company, I don't even know its terms because until yesterday I was only covering the referendum. The matter will surely be clarified; I read that the Anti-Mafia Commission will also be looking into it. Knowing Delmastro, I can assume anything about him—perhaps a bit of excess in his communication—but certainly not that he has any ties to, sympathies for, or connections with the mafia. He's more firm, and I'm also more of a defender of rights."
Todde's comment: "He wanted to send us the 41 Bis"
"I don't want to get into the merits of the resignation, but I still believe it is more than appropriate. As for Sardinia, what I can say is that we have a bone to pick with Undersecretary Delmastro over the 41-bis issue. He has made unilateral decisions, turning our prisons into a warehouse for 41-bis inmates, turning Sardinia, or attempting to turn it, into a Cayenne of Italy. So he has certainly not and will not leave a good impression on Sardinia," said President Alessandra Todde from Brussels.
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(Unioneonline/D)