Hoax call points to ‘desperate confusion’ in Renzi camp

A senior Italian centre-left figure and former minister has suggested that the team of prime minister-in-waiting Matteo Renzi is in a state of "desperation and confusion" as it works to put together a new government, following the resignation of the Enrico Letta-led coalition last week

Fabrizio Barca, minister for territorial cohesion from 2011 to 2013 under then prime minister Mario Monti, was heard expressing his concerns about the Renzi camp in a hoax phone call made to him by the Radio Il Sole 24 station. Mr Barca, who had been tipped as a possible finance minister in the Renzi government, believed he was talking to Nicchi Vendola, leader of the hardline leftist party SEL.

In fact, the phone call was a hoax in which he talked to someone who sounds uncannily like Mr Vendola. Inevitably, of course, Radio 24 broadcast lengthy extracts of the conversation on its popular La Zanzara programme on Monday night.

In it, Mr Barca recounted how he had been pursued and pressurised by the Renzi camp, in particular by the Repubblica-L'Espresso editorial group of industrial tycoon Carlo De Benedetti, in order to persuade him to accept a cabinet post, adding: "I was struck by their insistence, it's a sign of their confusion and desperation...they're off their heads, off their heads."

Assuring his interlocutor that he had no intention whatsoever of accepting a post in the new cabinet, Mr Barca said: “Nicchi, this whole thing lacks...there are no ideas behind it, there is an element of pure adventure about it. Given that there are no ideas, we’re stuck with their slogans...I’m very worried because I am looking at a most striking meltdown...”

Carlo De Benedetti issued a statement on Tuesday in which he denied categorically that he had tried to contact Mr Barca, either directly or through his media empire. Commentators pointed out that Mr Barca may have misinterpreted an opinion poll on the La Repubblica website which named him as one of the most popular choices for the role of finance minister. Likewise, the Renzi camp denied that they had offered any post to Mr Barca.

With, or more likely without Mr Barca, preparations for the Renzi government went ahead on Tuesday at full steam, with Mr Renzi meeting delegations from a variety of smaller parties in the morning and, most crucially, the New Centre Right (NCD) delegation in the afternoon.

The Renzi camp continue to make upbeat pronouncements on the progress being made with insiders repeating that Mr Renzi is determined to have his government up, running and sworn in by the weekend.