INTERNACIONAL
Escándalo político en Italia: denuncias de corrupción hunden a la izquierda y abren el camino a la derecha de Giorgia Meloni
Repentinamente estalló en Italia un escándalo de vastas proporciones que daña sobre todo al partido Democrático, la primera fuerza de la oposición de centroizquierda y que, naturalmente, consolida en el poder a la primera ministra de extrema derecha Giorgia Meloni y a su gobierno.
El “crack” sobrevino cuando faltan pocos días para una votación en la ciudad meridional de Bari, capital de la región Puglia, gobernada por los Democráticos. Unas elecciones primarias con vistas a los comicios locales que tienen lugar este año en Italia.
Trabajosamente se había logrado que el partido Democrático liderado por la joven Elly Schlein, de 38 años, aceptara una alianza política con el Movimiento 5 Estrellas, de estilo populista y guiado por Giuseppe Conti, un abogado que fue dos veces primer ministro de Italia. Conti es popular entre los italianos y ambiciona volver al Palacio Chigi, sede del gobierno, en las próximas elecciones generales italianas de 2027.
Una tendencia en Europa
Estos datos son importantes para los que creen que en esta crisis es mucho lo que se juega en una Europa en la que las derechas avanzan notablemente y en la que se esperan días difíciles porque Ucrania está perdiendo la guerra con la Rusia de Vladimir Putin, que hace amenazas directas, incluso evocando represalias atómicas.
Las causas directas del gran escándalo ha sido el destape de acciones ilícitas por parte de personajes del partido Demócrata principalmente en la sureña Bari y en Turín, en el Piamonte, una de las más ricas regiones italianas.
Fue Conte el que destapó el escándalo. Desde el palco, este fin de semana pasado, cuando debían ser elegidos los candidatos en las primarias para nuevo alcalde de Bari. Aliados hasta entonces el partido Democrático y las 5Eestrellas de Conte, presentaban respectivamentea Vito Leccese y Michele Laforgia.
Arrestan a un líder del partido de Meloni
Al mismo tiempo, la policía italiana detuvo este martes en Palermo (Sicilia) a Mimmo Russo, un destacado dirigente de Hermanos de Italia (FdI), el partido de la primera ministra, Giorgia Meloni, por compra de votos, asociación mafiosa, extorsión y tráfico de influencias para favorecer a Cosa Nostra, la mafia siciliana.
Russo, candidato a la alcaldía por FdI en las elecciones de 2022 y concejal durante 20 años en cinco formaciones políticas diferentes, ofrecía en las campañas electorales dinero, empleos y vales de gasolina que los miembros de la mafia utilizaban para comprar votos en los barrios de la ciudad, según la denuncia de la Fiscalía de Palermo recogida por los medios locales.
Junto a Russo, fue arrestado el hijo de Filippo Marchese, un histórico y despiadado asesino de Cosa Nostra, que mediaba en la venta de votos y un empresario de la construcción que iba a verse beneficiado de la recalificación de un terreno verde agrícola para la construcción de un centro comercial a cambio del voto de sus trabajadores.
La información proporcionada por colaboradores de la justicia fue esencial para descubrir una trama en la que el ex concejal puso además a disposición de la mafia su influencia como presidente de la Comisión de Urbanismo de la Alcaldía de Palermo para que controlaran concesiones, autorizaciones y contratos.
El exponente político de Hermanos de Italia ofrecía además dinero a los clanes mafiosos para organizar fiestas vecinales que les servían para ampliar su influencia y mejorar su imagen en los barrios que controlaban.
También prometió a Cosa Nostra el uso de la oficina de servicios sociales para agilizar la salida de prisión de destacados delincuentes mafiosos, así como contratos en el hipódromo y hasta un empleo de cajera para la amante de Marchese, siempre a cambio de votos.
INTERNACIONAL
Trump’s threats against Canada boost Trudeau’s Liberal Party in the polls as new tariffs set to begin
OTTAWA, Canada — As new tariffs came into effect on Tuesday, analysts say that if Canada’s Liberal Party holds onto power, the party can thank President Donald Trump in part for such a reversal of political fortune.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Canada’s official opposition Conservative Party – once leading the governing Liberals by a wide margin – has seen their popularity in public-opinion polls gradually decline.
An Ipsos poll released last week found that, for the first time since the Liberals won the last federal election in 2021, they’re ahead of the Conservatives by two points, with 38% popularity compared to the Conservatives at 36%. Six weeks earlier, the Conservatives were leading the Liberals by 26 points. A general election is expected to be called as early as this spring by Trudeau’s successor, who will be announced on Sunday.
Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, told Fox News Digital that he has never seen a party experience such a rapid and dramatic drop during his four-decade career in polling.
WHO IS PIERRE POILIEVRE? CANADA’S CONSERVATIVE LEADER SEEKING TO BECOME NEXT PRIME MINISTER AFTER TRUDEAU EXIT
Canada Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a news conference in a hotel ballroom in Ottawa on Dec. 1, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
He believes the Conservatives’ decline is attributable to two factors.
Justin Trudeau, whose personal popularity has plummeted since he became Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015, will step down as head of the Canadian government and Liberal Party on March 9; «And the threat from Trump to use economic force on Canada to bend us to his knee and possibly absorb us as a 51st state,» explained Bricker, about the president’s planned tariffs against Canada and his repeated references regarding annexation.
Throughout February, Nanos Research found the gap narrowing between the Liberals and Conservatives, who the month before were poised to form a «super-majority» government with as many as 240 members of Parliament (MPs) in an expanded 343-seat House of Commons that takes effect after the next general election.
«That’s completely out the window now,» said Nik Nanos, founder and chief data scientist of the Canadian polling firm, who also believes Trudeau’s imminent departure and Trump’s rhetoric against Canada have contributed to the Liberals’ bump in the polls.
The president «has effectively changed the ballot question from: Is it time for a change? – which was bad news for the Liberals – to who can best deal with Donald Trump, the new existential threat to the Canadian economy?» offered Nanos.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, officially announced his bid for the federal Liberal Party leadership in Edmonton, Canada, on Jan. 16, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He explained that Canadian Conservative Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre and his party played a part in the Liberals’ boost by «showing they were a little out of touch» in focusing on the Liberal government’s tax on carbon emissions and vowing to remove it while Canadians became increasingly concerned about Trump’s threats.
«In hindsight, when the Conservatives had a 27-point advantage in our polling, it didn’t have anything to do with Pierre Poilievre being strong or liked, or the Conservatives being brilliant strategists,» said Nanos. «It all had to do with dislike of Justin Trudeau and people wanting change and the Conservatives being the agent of change.»
According to the Ipsos poll, 86% percent of 1,000 respondents said that they want a general election «immediately» to have a federal government «with a strong mandate» to deal with Trump’s tariff threat.
Bricker said the Liberals’ lead in the polls, particularly in Canada’s most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, over the Conservatives could even widen should Mark Carney, the former governor of the central banks of England and Canada and the frontrunner in the Liberal leadership race, succeed Trudeau as prime minister.
INFLUENTIAL LEADER OF CANADA’S ONTARIO PROVINCE SEEKS TRUMP, MUSK MEETING: US ‘NEEDS US LIKE WE NEED THEM’
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office on Feb. 25, 2025. (Pool)
Veteran Canadian pollster Angus Reid said the latest polling by his company found that 51% said Carney and the Liberals were best suited to improve relations with the U.S., including on tariffs, compared to 35% who chose the Conservatives under Poilievre, who is seen by many Canadians as holding a «Trump-light agenda.»
From south of the border, the president has «eroded Conservative support because it completely changed the political dynamic in Canada, completely changed what could be considered the most important ballot question that was all about getting rid of some of the baggage from the Trudeau era,» explained Reid, founder and chair of the Angus Reid Institute.
«Now it’s one of defending the sovereignty and economy of the country.»
Another Angus Reid poll found that with Carney as Liberal leader, his party is virtually tied at 44% with the Conservatives, at 45% on voting intention. In Quebec, a Carney-led Liberal Party enjoys 31% support compared to the Conservatives at 22%.
Guests display a giant Canadian flag before a flag-raising ceremony on Feb. 15, 2025, in Toronto. (Yu Ruidong/China News Service/VCG via AP)
Reid said the annexation and tariffs issue especially resonates with Quebecers more than any other region in Canada.
Carney’s further challenge for Poilievre is that the former «on paper, looks like a Conservative,» said Nanos.
«The guy worked in the banking sector and the private sector, like Goldman Sachs, and chaired, until recently, large enterprises like Bloomberg and Brookfield [Asset Management]. He walks and talks like a Conservative.»
Carney, an Oxford-educated economist who has never held elected office, is expected to call a snap election should he be chosen as Trudeau’s successor.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
If the polling numbers continue to rise in favor of the Liberals, they could not only win the national vote in such a contest but form a majority government, added Reid.
Currently, the Liberals have 153 MPs in the 338-seat House of Commons, which constitutes a minority government.
INTERNACIONAL
«Estamos abandonados por todo el mundo»: entrevista al pediatra palestino que operó, salvo vidas y lo perdió todo
¿Gaza convertida en la Costa Azul?
INTERNACIONAL
Uruguay deja de reconocer a Edmundo González como presidente electo en Venezuela
Qué había dicho Lacalle Pou sobre Edmundo González Urrutia
-
POLITICA2 días ago
Nueva encuesta y sorpresa en la Ciudad: lidera un radical K y está tercero un abogado de famosos
-
POLITICA3 días ago
Javier Milei y sus medidas, EN VIVO: en un Congreso repleto de faltazos, el Presidente habla en cadena nacional para abrir la sesiones ordinarias
-
POLITICA10 horas ago
Javier Milei advirtió a Grupo Clarín que no autorizará la compra de Telefónica