The opposition leaders accepted Giorgia Meloni’s invitation to meet at Palazzo Chigi in the name of national security, but they made clear they would not give the Prime Minister a free pass on the government’s handling of the bomb threats targeting schools or on cybersecurity.

“We are here because we believe national security is a matter that concerns everyone,” Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein said ahead of the meeting. “The government has the responsibility to act and provide answers. We are ready to cooperate, but that does not mean giving it a blank check.” Meloni’s response was brief: “We are not asking for one.”

It was the first meeting between the Prime Minister and the opposition leaders since August 2023, when they gathered at Palazzo Chigi to discuss the minimum-wage bill. This time, the talks lasted nearly two hours, but the opposition emerged criticizing the lack of concrete proposals and a clear plan of action. There was also no definitive explanation for the source of the wave of bomb-threat emails sent to schools across Italy.

The government and opposition did, however, agree on the need to establish an operational protocol to prevent schools from being evacuated every time an alarming email arrives. Under the proposed approach, closures and evacuations would be ordered only when there is concrete evidence of a threat, rather than in response to mass-distributed messages alone.

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Interior Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano acknowledged that, at present, no police force or intelligence agency in the world would be able to identify the origin of the emails with certainty. Meloni, for her part, said she would not endorse any theory without solid evidence.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani took a different line, insisting that Russia could be behind the attacks. He also referred to digital threats directed at him and his family. Matteo Salvini, who attended the meeting, reportedly did not weigh in on the issue.

Schlein called for the dialogue to continue in Parliament and through COPASIR, the parliamentary committee that oversees Italy’s intelligence services. The opposition’s request for a formal government briefing was accepted, with a hearing expected next week involving either Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi or Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.

Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte said the issue should not be treated as a matter of party politics. “There can be no distinction between the majority and the opposition when the entire country is brought to a standstill by an email,” he said, calling for clear procedures to deal with threats and avoid unnecessary disruption.

Cybersecurity funding was another central issue. Schlein and the center-left parties urged the government to redirect resources toward protecting public institutions and critical infrastructure from digital attacks. Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni of the Green-Left Alliance also called for greater investment in cybersecurity, with Fratoianni suggesting that some of the money currently earmarked for defense could be redirected.

“You cannot stop hackers with cannons,” Bonelli said, arguing that the roughly €98 million allocated to cybersecurity pales in comparison with the hundreds of billions spent on weapons.

Matteo Renzi was even more scathing, arguing that the crisis could have been avoided with basic cybersecurity measures. “They should buy antivirus software, not Paragon to spy on journalists,” he said, referring to the spyware controversy. He also criticized what he described as a lack of coordination among Italy’s intelligence services, the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Postal and Communications Police and the National Cybersecurity Agency. The agency’s leadership, he added sarcastically, had struggled even to turn on a computer.

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