ROME –  Claudio Anastasio has resigned as President of 3-1 after sending a company email in which he paraphrased the Mussolini’s famous speech where he claimed political responsibility for the Matteotti murder, according to the newspaper La Repubblica.

 Anastasio was appointed manager by Meloni of the public company ‘3-1’ in Dec. 2022. The company manages and develops the software Inps, Istat and Inail (software used by the Italian public administration.)

 In the company email sent to the members of the ‘3-1’ board Anastasio wrote “Well, I declare here, in the presence of you, and in the presence of the entire Italian government, that I assume (I alone!) the 3-1 (political! moral! historical!) responsibility for everything that happened. … If 3-1 was my fault, I am responsible for it, because I nurtured this historical, political and moral climate in my role.”

 Evidently, a recipient of the email did not immediately grasp the reference and searched it up, discovering that Anastasio copied, almost in its entirety, the speech given by Mussolini to Parliament in Jan. 1925 in which he essentially claimed political responsibility for the murder of a socialist deputy six months earlier. That speech by Mussolini, among other things, prepared Italy for what would go down in history as the “fascist laws”, passed shortly afterwards.

 For Italy’s other political parties the resignation of Anastasio calls into question the ministers who both created and supervised the company, starting with the Minister of Labour Marina Elvira Calderone who is facing demands for an explanation of such a careless appointment.

 “We await immediate explanations from Minister Calderone for this umpteenth proof of inadequacy that has had such resounding consequences,' said PD deputy Emiliano Fossi, a member of the Chamber's Labour Commission.

 "Unfortunately we are faced with yet another patch put over the enormous holes made by the Meloni government. Appointments at the top of investee companies are an important aspect of Italian public life. What are the cultural references of the managers that the government is placing in key bodies of the country?” said Senator Alessandra Maiorino, deputy group leader of the 5 Star Movement in Palazzo Madama.

 eb