Italy launches inquiry into coronavirus handling

ROME

Italy’s lower house approved the creation of a parliamentary inquiry commission Thursday into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, sparking the anger of the opposition who was in government at the time.

“As it is, this parliamentary commission is a political firing squad for two names: Giuseppe Conte and Roberto Speranza,” said former Prime Minister Conte, who is the leader of the 5 Star Movement opposition party. Speranza was health minister in the center-left government at the time the pandemic hit Italy in February 2020.

Italy was the first Western country to suffer the arrival of the virus. At the time, right-wing parties strongly criticized many measures adopted by Conte’s government to curb the effects of the pandemic.

The pandemic took a heavy toll on Italy, with 190,000 deaths and one of the steepest economic contractions suffered in the West in 2020.

After the vote approving the launch of the commission, parliamentarians from the right-wing majority shouted: “Truth, truth.”

Many opposition parliamentarians did not participate in the vote.

Italy’s Senate, where the right-wing alliance headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni commands a solid majority, will have to give its approval to the inquiry commission.